Wahine outplay Shockers

The only option when pushed is to push back.

No. 18 Hawaii did just that Saturday night, pushing into Sunday’s match with Oregon State as the only undefeated team left in the Chevron Invitational. Behind a career-high 25 kills from junior outside hitter Nikki Taylor and 17 from senior middle Olivia Magill, the Rainbow Wahine ground out a 24-26, 25-20, 25-20, 25-19 victory in front of 5,352 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Hawaii (2-0) goes for its ninth title in this volleyball event when it takes on Oregon State (1-1) in the 5 p.m. match. The Beavers needed 75 minutes to sweep Idaho 25-10, 25-19, 25-19 in Saturday’s first match.

The Vandals (0-2) and Shockers (1-1) open Sunday’s play at 2:30 p.m.

Saturday’s match lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes and was anything but easy for the Rainbow Wahine, who struggled to find a rhythm while trying to disrupt Wichita State’s. The Shockers’ quick and unorthodox offense had Hawaii’s block slow to make the right read early.

"They were very untraditional and you had to pay attention," said Magill, who was one kill away from tying her career high. "Set 1 was a lot of unforced errors on our part. After that, it was a whole group effort.

"It’s nice to have an opposite (Taylor) who can put the ball away and I’m proud of Clare (defensive specialist Anderson) She was steady with her serve."

For the second consecutive night, Anderson was used as the only defensive specialist and served 20 times without an error. At 21-19, the sophomore served out as Hawaii took the swing Set 3.

"My focus is getting the ball over the net and putting it where Jeff (associate coach Hall) is telling me," Anderson said. "Losing Set 1 was a heartbreaker, but we didn’t let it affect us. We had it in our heads that we wanted to finish this in four and not let it go five. They (the Shockers) were quick and physical."

Losing Set 1 came down to the little things, with Hawaii committing two more service errors than WSU, being called for an overlap violation and four net violations. But the Shockers also contributed to the Wahine’s misery with six kills from freshman hitter Shimen Fayad and 18 digs, seven by junior libero Dani Mostrom.

The Wahine cleaned it up in Set 2 and Taylor continued to clean up with her swings.. After 12 kills in Friday’s three-set win, she had that many midway through the second. And by the end of the third — when the junior put down the last two points of a 4-0 run — she was one away from a career high.

Taylor continued to swing away, taking a total of 50, and breaking her previous high while giving Hawaii a 22-16 lead. The Wahine needed three swings at ending it, the last point coming on a hitting error by WSU’s Mikaela Raudsepp.

Taylor finished with a double-double, adding 11 digs. Junior setter Tayler Higgins’ double-double was 51 assists and a team-high 16 digs. Sophomore libero Savanah Kahakai had 13.

Sophomore middle Abbie Lehman finished with 17 kills for the Shockers and Mostrom added 23 digs.

"After Set 1, I hoped that we didn’t have a mental letdown — we frittered away that game," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "Sometimes when you get frustrated you don’t respond, but we did. I think we wore down their outside hitters. They needed to be in system to do what they do and we were able to get them out of system.

"Tomorrow with Oregon State it won’t be the system, it will be their Pac-12 size."

The concern is the play of senior co-captain Tai Manu-Olevao, who is struggling with her overall game. She was subbed out of the back row in Set 2 by freshman McKenna Granato and didn’t play at all in Set 4. The outside hitter, who has sat out Sunday competition for religious reasons, is expected to play against the Beavers.

Oregon State 3, Idaho 0

Beavers coach Terry Liskevych didn’t have to look far for a reminder of the great battles he had against Hawaii while coaching at Pacific. After the 75-minute win over the Vandals, Liskevych looked up at the Rainbow Wahine’s four national championship banners and zeroed in on "1982."

"We were No. 1 and they beat us at our Wendy’s Classic," Liskevych said. "And then we came here,the last plane in before (Hurricane) Iwa hit and they beat us again. Then they won that banner at our place (Spanos Center) when we hosted and didn’t make it (to the final four).

"It’s always an honor to play here and against Dave’s teams. We keep asking each other who’s going to retire first (Shoji is 68, Liskevych 67), but we both are still enjoying it."

Liskevych enjoyed picking up his first win of the season as his team rebounded after being swept by Wichita State in Friday’s opener. The Beavers were about to get the ball to their outsides — which he considers their strength — and "we played crisper today," Liskevych said. "Against Hawaii, we’ll need to step it up like we did today, clean it up more, serve tougher and keep their middles from being successful."

Sophomore hitter Mary-Kate Marshall led OSU with 15 kills and junior hitter Katelyn Driscoll added 14.

Idaho, which had just three kills in Set 1, got eight kills from Becca Mau.