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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, November 13, 2009

'Bows sweep past Boise in volleyball


Advertiser Staff

Seniors Amber Kaufman and Aneli Cubi-Otineru were almost flawless last night as third-ranked Hawai'i ran its volleyball winning streak to 20 with a 25-16, 25-14, 25-16 victory over Boise State.

The Western Athletic Conference match was played in front of 731 at Bronco Gym in Idaho.

The Rainbow Wahine (24-2, 14-0 WAC) had already clinched the top seed in the WAC Tournament. They finish the regular season at Idaho tomorrow and Utah State Monday.

Boise (6-20, 6-8) came into the match tied for fourth in the WAC. The top six teams qualify for the tournament, which will be held Nov. 23 to 25 in Las Vegas.

Kaufman and Cubi-Otineru both finished with seven kills and no errors. Kaufman hit .538, with five blocks and three aces. Cubi-Otineru hit .389, with four stuffs. The Rainbows out-blocked the Broncos 8 1/2-1 and out-aced them 5-1.

The aces started early. Hawai'i scored the first four points of the night, with Dani Mafua getting two aces. That set the tone for the match.

The 'Bows scored 11 of the first 16 points in the first two sets. The final set was tied four times, before UH went on a 9-4 run to make it 15-10.

In this winning streak, Hawai'i has dropped just three sets.

"We've been pretty steady and I kind of like our attitude," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "The level has been real high. And when it's not, everybody can feel it. They are conscious of staying at a high level. It's hard to do. We have 16 matches in the WAC and it's hard to keep that level up. It seems like every team in the country has had a lapse here or there, lost a match on the road or something, and we just haven't done that, which is nice."

Rainbow Wahine sophomore Stephanie Ferrell had a match-high 11 kills, while Sadie Maughan led Boise with nine.

Sophomore transfer Alexis Forsythe added a UH career-high seven kills, hit .455 and contributed three blocks in her first UH start. She took over for freshman Brittany Hewitt, who came down with a fever Wednesday. Shoji said Hewitt's condition will be re-assessed this morning.

Hewitt was a two-time state player of the year at Eagle High School, about 10 miles from Boise. Her sister, Robyn, played for the Broncos.

NOTE

After cutting off some 20 times, ESPN 1420 AM finally ended its live coverage after the second set last night, switching to NFL football and giving updates until the end of the match. There will be no radio broadcast from Idaho tomorrow because of UH football, but the final road match from Utah State Monday is scheduled to be aired live beginning at 4 p.m. HST.

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