SEATTLE » All Ginger Long wanted to do was fit in.
The Hawaii volleyball team was off to a fast start in its first-round NCAA tournament match against Duke on Friday night when freshman outside hitter Kalei Greeley went down with an ankle injury.
Long, who didn’t want to disrupt UH’s rhythm, did a little bit of everything after replacing Greeley late in the first set to keep the Rainbow Wahine on cruise control in an impressive 25-15, 25-19, 25-17 win over the Blue Devils at Alaska Airlines Arena.
Long finished with six kills, eight digs and three blocks after substituting in for Greeley with UH ahead 18-11.
The 5-foot-11 junior, who announced last week she would not return for her senior season, blended right in with her UH teammates and came up with numerous big plays to help Hawaii advance to the second round of the tournament for a 17th consecutive year.
"I had a lot of support from my entire team," Long said. "It’s hard for a player to come in off the bench and really kind of jell well, so I think our starting lineup group did a good job of inviting me in and giving me that positive energy to feed off of."
Long started seven of UH’s first eight matches before her playing time diminished as coach Dave Shoji settled on his regular rotations.
After her announcement, she was given a proper send-off during UH’s senior night festivities on Nov. 29 in a sweep of UC Davis.
Thrust into action against the 21st-ranked Blue Devils, Long played three sets in a match for the first time since Oct. 26.
She did so well that Shoji kept Greeley on the bench the rest of the game as a precaution.
"Our trainers thought that Greeley could go back in, but I thought Ginger was doing great and so there was no need to put her back in," Shoji said. "Sometimes overnight (the ankle) can swell, but we just didn’t need her to go back in."
While Greeley tried to keep her ankle loose behind the Rainbow Wahine bench, Long kept Hawaii well ahead of Duke, which never led by more than a point the entire match.
Duke fell behind two sets to none for just the fourth time this season and had no chance to catch Hawaii in the third after UH raced out to a 14-3 lead.
Long capped a 7-0 run with a thunderous solo block on Alyse Whitaker to force a Duke timeout with UH ahead 8-2.
She was in on three more blocks on the set as Hawaii dominated the middle, tallying 111⁄2 blocks that forced Duke to hit .050 for the match.
The Blue Devils came in leading the country in assists per set (14.18) and were second in kills per set (14.7).
They averaged 9.67 kills and 9.3 assists against the Rainbow Wahine.
"Dave always tells me in the beginning of every match, ‘Be ready,’ so of course you always have to be ready for the worst," Long said. "Just go in and do what I’ve been doing in practice was really my main thought."
