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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, September 27, 2009

Rainbow Wahine roll past Vandals


Advertiser Staff

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Hawai'i's Brittany Hewitt dinks the ball against Idaho in the second set of last night's WAC match.

ANDREW SHIMABUKU | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Fourth-ranked Hawai'i got it going last night and Idaho had no idea how to stop it in the Rainbow Wahine's 25-13, 25-11, 25-19 Western Athletic Conference volleyball victory.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,847 watched the Rainbows (11-2, 2-0 WAC) roll to their seventh straight victory. All have been sweeps.

The Vandals (5-8, 1-1), who came into the opening week of conference play ranked second nationally in blocking, couldn't find a cure for the Hawai'i attack. The 'Bows out-hit Idaho .374 to .043 and out-blocked it 9-5.

For the second straight match, Aneli Cubi-Otineru (11 kills) and Stephanie Ferrell (12) teed off outside for Hawai'i. Kanani Danielson, out with the flu Thursday, returned with seven kills and the three middles all had at least four kills and three stuffs. Setter Dani Mafua was in on five of the UH blocks.

The opening set was all even for 14 points. Then Cubi-Otineru drilled kills down the line over 5-foot-10 Katie Tribley and 5-8 Cassie Hamilton and suddenly the Rainbow Wahine were living large.

Sarah Conwell, coming off a 19-kill, 20-dig performance, blasted a ball out and another into the net to put Hawai'i ahead 11-7. She would finish the set with zero kills in 11 swings and four errors. Hamilton also struggled against the 'Bow block, going 1-for-6 with four more kills.

From 7-all to the end of the first set, the Vandals had just one kill. They hit negative .094 for the set. Meanwhile, Hawai'i hammered everything in sight, hitting .500 in the final 20 serves.

Idaho went to a freshman setter in the second set and Conwell got her first kill 24 minutes into the match. Trouble was, she had the Vandals' first three kills and by the time anyone else got one, Hawai'i was ahead 15-4 as Cubi-Otineru and Ferrell both served six straight.

The gap grew to 20-5 before Idaho gathered itself for a late rally that ended abruptly on Cubi-Otineru's third ace of the set.

Hawai'i hit .640 with Ferrell having the only UH hitting error — after launching six kills.

NOTES

Hawai'i now plays on the road for the first time this season, at Louisiana Tech Thursday and New Mexico State Saturday. The Rainbows' next home match is against Nevada Oct. 8.

In Pac-10 upsets over the weekend, 12th-ranked Cal dropped 10th-ranked Stanford in five, 13th-ranked USC fell to 19th-ranked Arizona in four and unranked Arizona State swept 14th-ranked UCLA. In the Big 12, second-ranked Texas beat sixth-ranked Nebraska in four last night. In the WAC, Boise State got its first victory by beating winless San Jose State in five and Louisiana Tech defeated Utah State in five.