STANFORD, Calif. — Down a set and an all-conference player, third-ranked Hawai‘i came back to beat eighth-ranked Illinois, 21-25, 25-10, 27-25, 25-16, tonight in an NCAA Women's Volleyball regional semifinal at Maples Pavilion.

The Rainbow Wahine (31-2), seeded 12th in the national tournament, will play for a place in the final four tomorrow against 13th-seeded Michigan, which upset fourth-seeded Stanford, 25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 25-11 in the late match.
Hawai‘i will take a 27-match winning streak into the regional final.
The Fighting Illini, seeded fifth, end their season 26-6.
Sophomores Kanani Danielson (21 kills) and Stephanie Ferrell (a career-high 19) combined for 40 of Hawai‘i’s 60 kills. Freshman Brittany Hewitt helped UH out-block the Illini 11-7, with seven stuffs.
All-conference middle Amber Kaufman came out near the end of the first after aggravating her abdominal strain. She did not return for Hawai‘i.
Illinois scored 12 of the night’s first 17 points, but saw its advantage disappear when Aneli Cubi-Otineru served six straight to put Hawai‘i ahead 15-14. Hewitt had three stuffs in the surge.
It wouldn’t be enough, with Ferrell providing about the only UH offense. She was 7-for-10 in the opening set but her teammates mustered just four kills and five errors — three from Cubi-Otineru in as many swings.
Kaufman came out in the midst of a UH mini-rally that cut the Illini’s deficit to 23-21 and she did not play again, sitting on the bench in tears before she was taken to the locker room.
Somehow, the Rainbow Wahine thrived on the adversity, and suddenly Illinois was all over the place. It hit zero (7 kills, 7 errors) in Set 2, getting stuffed three times. The Rainbows were 12-for-28 and added four aces.
Hawai‘i scored the first six points with Dani Mafua serving, then forced the Illini to burn their final timeout when Cubi-Otineru served six more to make it 14-4.
Ferrell had four more kills in the set and Danielson and Cubi-Otineru also had four apiece.
The third set was even closer than the first. After nine ties, the Rainbow Wahine got to set point first on Danielson’s 12th kill. Illinois erased that and got its own with an ace. After a long rally, Danielson dug a ball then buried one to tie it at 25.
After a Jayme Lee save, Cubi-Otineru put UH ahead, then won it with her seventh kill.
Inspired, the ‘Bows blew to an 11-3 advantage in the fourth set, forcing the Fighting Illini to burn both timeouts in the first seven minutes.

NOTES
In other regional semifinals, top-seeded Penn State and ninth-seeded Cal swept and will meet in State College, Pa. That winner plays the winner of tomorrow’s Stanford Regional in next week’s final four in Tampa, Fla. At Omaha, Neb., second-seeded Texas swept Texas A&M and 10th-seeded Nebraska swept No. 7 Iowa State. Third-seeded Florida State escaped Kentucky in five.

UH has launched a new online auction on HawaiiAthletics.com and it currently features the Rainbow Wahine’s pink jerseys and autographed game balls used during the “Dig Pink” match for breast cancer awareness. Proceeds from this auction will support UH Athletics and the American Cancer Society.
Starting bid for jerseys and game balls is $25. Closing date is next Sunday (Dec. 20) at 6 p.m.
Throughout the year, the auction will offer items from the department including authentic jerseys, event tickets and special event packages. Proceeds will support the Athletics Department.