Wahine overcome sluggish first set

FULLERTON, Calif. » Third-ranked Hawaii won one last Western Athletic Conference volleyball championship on Wednesday. Friday, the Rainbow Wahine extended their winning streak to 24.

Time for the NCAA Tournament.

After a sluggish start that even UH coach Dave Shoji could understand, Hawaii overwhelmed Cal State Fullerton 14-25, 25-16, 25-17, 25-9 in the Wahine’s final regular-season match.

Now they wait for Sunday’s NCAA Tournament announcement, hoping to be home the first week for the first time in eight years.

Friday’s match was "Back to the Future" by any definition. The Titans (12-16) and Wahine (29-1) played together in the PCAA (1985-87) and Big West (1988-95), but hadn’t seen each other in a decade.

Next season Hawaii returns to the Big West, and faces a Fullerton team now winless in 27 tries against the Wahine.

"I’m so jealous. The Big West feels real competitive," said UH senior Chanteal Satele, who started again after being weakened by the flu in Las Vegas. "It was fun. They’re a really good team and I think the conference is full of good teams. I’m happy for them."

Fullerton drew a season-high 1,026 at Titan Gym. It was three times as many fans as the Titans averaged this season, when they went from Big West champion and an inaugural NCAA appearance to fourth place.

The crowd was no help for the home team. At least 75 percent was pulling for Hawaii. Those fans — assorted family, friends and alumnae — were cringing the first 20 minutes.

Fullerton flattened the Wahine in the first set, picking apart their passing and hitting .395 — more than 200 points above its average.

"It’s usually always passing when we play poorly," said Shoji, who admitted he had been worried about this orphan match — so close to an emotional WAC Tournament and Thanksgiving — the past two months. "Sometimes when you haven’t played somebody you don’t know how they serve. We were getting caught up high and just couldn’t move the right way, so we got in trouble."

Hawaii had not scored fewer than 17 points in any 25-point set this season, but it lost the first five points and never cut the gap. Jennifer Edmond buried all five of her swings, and Kayla Nato got the Titans’ final four kills.

The atmosphere changed radically early in the second set. Edmond launched her first swing 15 feet long and was shut out. Hawaii scored four in a row to go up 10-6, then found its rhythm as Fullerton unraveled.

"We weren’t really into it," Satele admitted. "Then we got into it."

The Titans’ hitting plummeted as the match wore on, and Hawaii wore on them. Edmond had five more kills the rest of the night, and five errors.

And, as CSUF coach Carolyn Zimmerman said, "Their passing helped us, then we switched sides and we caught the virus."

UH senior Alex Griffiths blasted an ace for the 20th point in the second set and junior Courtney Lelepali lined the first ace of her UH career to make it 23-12.

"Our serving again kind of wore them out. We kept pounding our serve and eventually they broke down," Shoji said. "At first I was thinking, ‘If they’re going to play like this, we’re not winning this match.’ They dug everything we hit."

When sophomore Kristina Kam subbed in to try and serve Set 2 out, UH had used 13 of its 15 players. By the end, all 15 had played and rarely used Kristiana Tuaniga closed the regular season with a stuff and a kill sandwiching Kanani Danielson’s 20th kill.

Hawaii scored 16 of the last 20 to run away in the third. The final set was tied at 6 before the Wahine went off on the Titans in front of their adoring SoCal fans and an online ESPN3 audience.

All five UH attackers had at least nine kills and hit over .300 as first-year setter Mita Uiato got it all going, from every inch of the floor. Jane Croson and Danielson also had 14 digs apiece, and libero Emily Maeda gathered 19.

NO. 3 HAWAII DEF. CAL STATE FULLERTON 14-25, 25-16, 25-17, 25-9