UH knocks off USC

Getting there was the hard part … for both destinations.

Fourth-seeded Hawaii needed some 26 hours to reach Gulf Shores, Ala., site of the AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball Championships.

The Rainbow Wahine then needed a solid performance Friday to snap top-seeded USC’s 21-match winning streak and reach Saturday’s national semifinals with a 3-2 win.

Hawaii (20-3), making its first appearance in the team event, takes on third-seeded Florida State (19-2), which has advanced to the final four all three years of the tournament’s existence.

The SandBows and Seminoles meet in the first semifinal (6 a.m. Hawaii time). Second-seeded Pepperdine (16-1) takes on USC (23-2) in the second; both Florida State and USC had to come out of the losers bracket in the double-elimination portion to advance, the Seminoles sweeping Florida International 5-0 and the Women of Troy eliminating Stetson 4-1 later Friday.

"We feel great; we came here to win a national championship," Hawaii coach Scott Wong said. "There’s a lot of good teams here and we had to beat two of them to get this far. I don’t think we’ve hit our stride yet.

"Florida State is the kind of team we haven’t played yet. They’re a little undersized, scrappy, good all around. They don’t make a lot of errors. They’ll be tough and we’ll have our work cut out for us."

While Hawaii didn’t play Florida State this season, that doesn’t mean there aren’t connections. The Seminoles are coached by Punahou graduate Danalee Bragado Corso, a former beach player, and half of the SandBows’ No. 1 pair is Brittany Tiegs, an All-American at FSU in 2012 before transferring to Hawaii.

Tiegs and Karissa Cook improved to 19-2 in dual play (34-4 overall) by avenging one of their earlier losses. The pair’s hard-fought 23-21, 22-20 win over USC’s Kirby Burnham-Sara Hughes (20-4) put the SandBows ahead for good 2-1; Ali Longo-Ginger Long’s win at No. 3 to clinch it for Hawaii.

On March 19 at Queen’s Beach, the Women of Troy edged the SandBows 3-2, with the deciding match coming at No. 1 as Burnham-Hughes prevailed 21-18, 22-24, 15-12.

"We’re stoked — it’s a little bit of redemption and a little bit of beating the No. 1 team," said Cook, who transferred from Stanford after playing four seasons indoors. "SC is really good, the No. 1 seed, and we knew it was going to be a battle on every court.

"We were getting points off Brittany’s jump serve. It allowed us to make huge plays on defense. For us (to win the national championship), it’s going to take solid play from every one of our teams, 1 through 5. Every person has to be on, every single person has to come ready to play. If we do that, we can do it."

It has the potential to become a championship Saturday for the Cook family. Karissa’s younger brother, Brian, is on the Stanford men’s indoor team that plays Loyola-Chicago on Saturday night for the NCAA championship.

Standing in Hawaii’s way is Florida State, which has lost the past two seasons in the national semifinals.

"We’re back in the final four and that was one of our goals," Corso said. "I think we match up well with Hawaii, so we are excited about that.

"Hawaii beat FIU 4-1, so I really wanted to beat (FIU) 5-0, and we did. (Losing to Pepperdine 4-1 earlier Friday) was just the second time we have lost all season. We aren’t used to losing. We just said, ‘Let’s shake this off and look ahead.’ Playing well (against FIU) was huge."

Wong said the key to going 2-0 and avoiding the losers bracket was the team’s ability to adjust to the opponents. Also crucial was the ability for London Chow and Olivia Urban, the No. 4 pair, to rebound after losing to FIU 21-10, 21-27 to win their match against USC 21-19, 21-19.

"They did not play well (against FIU)," Wong said. "We talked to them and they responded, were able to let go (of the loss) and stay present. It was a great win for them (over USC).

"We played well, played steady and aggressive, made plays when it counted in tight matches. This team has faced a lot of adversity and, as a coach, it’s always a good feeling to see that the team has shown tremendous character in tough situations.

"Our mind-set coming in was that we have something to prove. We want to be the best."

Note

To get to Gulf Shores, Hawaii flew out Tuesday night to Houston. Wednesday’s flight to Pensacola, Fla., was canceled due to weather and, with most flights grounded, the team drove more than nine hours through Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi before getting to the tournament site early Thursday morning.