The Wahine sweep again, beating Northern Illinois

One set of Huskies down, one more to go.

No. 14 Hawaii took care of the Huskies of Northern Illinois on Friday night, getting 18 kills from senior All-America opposite Nikki Taylor, and a block that showed up when needed in a 26-24, 25-15, 25-15 sweep at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Rainbow Wahine (5-3) will sit out today’s portion of the Outrigger Resorts Volleyball Challenge and prepare for Sunday’s critical 4 p.m. match with the other Huskies, those of No. 6 Washington. Washington ended Hawaii’s season in the 2010, 2012 and 2014 NCAA tournaments and “the girls are aware of the history,” Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. “There’s a lot at stake. It’s a big match and should have the feel of an NCAA tournament game.”

Washington is the last of three ranked teams Hawaii will face in the preconference season. The Wahine dropped the other two, to Wisconsin and UCLA.

Today’s matches have Northern Illinois (5-2) playing both ends of the doubleheader, facing Utah Valley (3-6) at noon and Washington (6-0) at 5 p.m. Admission is free, but the arena will be cleared between the two matches, with Hawaii getting in a practice.

In Friday’s opener, Washington needed just 75 minutes to win its sixth straight, sweeping Utah State 25-10, 25-20, 25-17.

“I thought we had more fun out there than we had been having,” said Wahine sophomore hitter McKenna Granato, who finished with nine kills. “A lot of things were going well.

“With us having more time together, we’re getting more comfortable out there.”

Granato typified the hustle that Hawaii used in closing out the match in 100 minutes. After junior libero Savanah Kahakai saved a ball going out of bounds, Granato made a diving save that went back over the net and kept the rally alive, eventually resulting in the Wahine taking a 3-2 lead in Set 3.

“I didn’t want the ball to drop and went for it,” Granato said.

Hawaii’s middles did as well, with junior Emily Maglio finishing with seven kills and five blocks and sophomore Casey Castillo with six kills and five blocks.

Castillo had five kills in Set 1 and “maybe she got set too many times early,” Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. “Norene (freshman setter Iosia) went away from her and then came back to her and she was effective.

“We’d like to be a little more balanced, but your best player is going to get the most sets. When we need a point, we’ll go to Nikki.”

Taylor had 37 of Hawaii’s 91 attempts; Granato was second with 21.

Taylor’s ability to dominate was evident at the end of Set 1. At 24-24, she put down her next two attacks, her eighth kill finishing it at 26-24.

In Set 2, Hawaii went on a 13-3 tear, led by Taylor. She had six kills and two aces in the set as the Wahine took a 2-0 lead.

NIU, which arrived on Thursday, didn’t have much left in Set 3 after closing to 13-10. Granato’s kill set up a 4-0 spurt that included a solo block by Castillo.

At 23-15, NIU coach Ray Gooden challenged a net violation call on his team that would have made it 23-16. Instead, the officials chose to replay the point, putting Hawaii junior reserve setter Kendra Koelsch on the service line.

Koelsch quickly ended it with two of Hawaii’s eight aces in the match.

“I thought we had some fun out there,” Shoji added. “Maybe we got a little nervous in Game 1, but we loosened up.

“I thought we passed extremely well, were able to get our middles involved.

“It was a fun night and we beat a good team, that probably will win their conference and be in the NCAAs.”

Senior hitter Mary Grace Kelly led NIU with eight kills. Junior libero Anna Bremerton had nine digs.

No. 6 Washington 3, Utah Valley 0

Crissy Jones had 11 kills and Destiny Julye added 10 in the Huskies’ fourth sweep of the season.

Jones was in on eight of UW’s 13 blocks and freshman libero Shayne McPherson had 13 of the team’s 45 digs.

Alexis Davies had nine kills and Nakisha Wilden had 10 of the Wolverines’ 37 digs.