Updated at 9:17 p.m., Thursday, September 6, 2007
Rainbow Wahine sweep past Eastern Washington
Advertiser Staff
After scaring itself early, 16th-ranked Hawai'i rolled over Eastern Washington, 31-29, 30-15, 30-20, on the opening night of the 13th annual Waikiki Beach Marriott Volleyball Challenge.Tonight's matches were watched by a season-low 3,354 at Stan Sheriff Center.
In the opener, Wichita State (5-2) warmed up for tomorrow's match with Hawai'i by sweeping 19th-ranked Santa Clara, 30-26, 30-23, 30-19. The Shockers stuffed the Broncos (5-2) into .030 hitting, including negative .021 in the last game. Wichita got 14 kills from Sara Lungren, the 2006 Missouri Valley Conference Player of Year. Sophomore transfer Emily Stockman added 12 kills, 18 digs and 5 aces.
Anna Cmaylo, the Broncos' All-American middle, has not played this season. She is recovering from shoulder surgery.
Hawai'i (4-3) came out looking as if it wanted to atone for Monday's meltdown against fifth-ranked UCLA, The 'Bows broke to a 13-6 lead against an EWU team that lost its coach in July and has just two starters back.
But the Eagles (1-6) regrouped and UH returned to its fractured form. All-American Jamie Houston was particularly poor, getting replaced by freshman Stephanie Ferrell — in her debut — after her eighth hitting error. At that point, EWU was on a 19-9 run and led 25-22.
The pesky Eagles would get to game point first (29-27), on Hayley Hills' fourth kill. But Juliana Sanders erased that and Aneli Cubi-Otineru got the next to tie it at 29. A Sanders' stuff — the 'Bows had six in the game — and her fourth kill finally silenced EWU.
Hawai'i started fast again in Game 2 — with Houston back — but this time finished faster. It stretched a five-point advantage to 21-8 with Stephanie Brandt serving seven straight. By then, the Eagles were in disarray. They hit .029 for the game, with the Rainbows collecting five more blocks and hitting .364.
Freshman Amanda Simmons and sophomore Amber Kaufman played middle in Game 3 and and 'Bows continued to cruise. Sanders sat with seven kills and seven stuffs in two games, Tara Hittle, starting on the right side for the first time since 2004, had seven kills and hit .500 in two-plus games. Sophomore defensive specialist Jayme Lee, who had one kill her entire career, collected two tonight.
