Arizona State blanks UH

It was late all the way around. A late start complete with late comebacks.

"It’s already tomorrow for us," Arizona State coach Jason Watson joked after his 25th-ranked Sun Devils upset No. 17 Hawaii 25-21, 25-23, 25-23 Saturday night. "We didn’t come in with expectations of being 2-0. We were excited about the opportunity to play in the most iconic volleyball arena in the country.

"To have 6,000 people here after a heartbreaking football loss says so much about this community and the support for the sport. It is a privilege to play here against Hawaii and against coach Dave Shoji."

The turnstile crowd of 4,182 saw ASU (2-0) all but clinch the title of the Chevron Invitational by being good when it counted, and that was at the end of each set. The Rainbow Wahine (1-1), with Shoji using multiple lineups and switching liberos, were good enough at points but not consistent to pull things through.

"We frittered away too many points," Shoji said. "When you lose 25-23 it’s basically one point. One point that goes your way that doesn’t go the way of the other team.

"The important thing is to bounce back tomorrow."

Hawaii will face San Diego State in the tournament finale at 5:30 p.m. The Aztecs (0-2) fell to Ohio 23-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-22 in Saturday’s first match.

The Bobcats (1-1) take on the Sun Devils at 3 p.m.

Junior hitter Tai Manu-Olevao led Hawaii with nine kills, while freshman hitter Kalei Greeley came off the bench in Set 2 for six. With Manu-Olevao sitting out Sunday matches for religious beliefs, Shoji said Greeley will get her first career start.

Greeley was already thinking about what to improve upon.

"We were right there," she said. "We just couldn’t push past and get the points when we needed them.

"For me personally, I need to calm down and play my game."

Greeley was unafraid to take the big swings when called upon. She and junior middle Olivia Magill also teamed to block the 6-foot-4 BreElle Bailey — daughter of former NBA player Thurl — to give Hawaii a 15-13 lead at the technical timeout in Set 3.

Shoji tried a little bit of everything, including using freshman middle-turned-hitter Megan Huff on both the right and left sides. The Wahine used 12 of their 16 players.

The Sun Devils used nine and at times only needed one: junior hitter Macey Gardner. She came up big time after time, bailing ASU out from all positions on the court and finishing with 16 kills.

"I can’t speak highly enough of Macey and what she means to our team," Watson said. "If she’s not the best player to come through our program, I’d like to meet who is.

"Why aren’t we still playing? It’s not that we were great all the time, but we were a little better late in Games 2 and 3."

Hawaii had its chances, particularly in Set 2 when leading 21-17. The Wahine couldn’t hold on and were outscored 8-2 to give ASU a 2-0 lead at intermission.

Even when swapping out liberos in Set 3, with freshman Savannah Kahakai in for senior Sarah Mendoza, and with a very young lineup that included freshmen Greeley, Huff and setter Kendra Koelsch, the Wahine looked capable of turning it around.

ASU caught Hawaii at 15. There were be five more ties, the last at 23.

Whitney Follette’s kills gave the Sun Devils match point, with Greeley hitting wide to end it.

OHIO 3, SAN DIEGO STATE 1

Kelly Lamberti put down 22 kills and Jamie Kosiorek added 10 for the Bobcats. Libero Meredith Ashy had 22 of the team’s 65 digs.

For the Aztecs, Ciara Brown had a team-high 11 kills. SDSU had 73 digs, 22 by libero Devyn Pritchard.

NO. 25 ARIZONA STATE DEF. NO. 17 HAWAII 25-21, 25-23, 25-23

SUN DEVILS (2-0)

RAINBOW WAHINE (1-1)

Key — s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills plus blocks plus aces). Service Aces — Arizona State 3 (Bailey 2, Pirotte). Hawaii 4 (Higgins 2, Kahakai, Mendoza). Service errors — Arizona State 12 (Arellano 4, Bailey 3, Pirotte 2, Harker 2, Gardner). Hawaii 11 (Manu-Olevao 3 Higgins 2, Kahakai 2, Greeley 2, Mendoza, Ponce). Assists — Arizona State 38 (Arellano 35, Pirotte 2, Harker). Hawaii 32 (Higgins 28, Kahakai, Greeley, Mendoza, Ponce). T — 1:36. Officials — Dickson Chun, Wayne Lee, Ryan Scudder. A — 6,010.