Wahine handcuff Vandals
Idaho shared volleyball airspace with fourth-ranked Hawaii for parts of two sets, but was stuffed in the other last night and suffered its first Western Athletic Conference sweep of the season.
The Rainbow Wahine extended their NCAA-best conference winning streak to 32 (regular-season) matches with a 25-20, 25-7, 25-19 victory. UH has won its last 12 overall, heading into tomorrow’s match at Boise State. It closes this road trip at Utah State on Monday.
Before 873 at Memorial Gym in Moscow last night, Hawaii (17-1, 7-0 WAC) treated an ESPNU television audience to a second-set smackdown. It set a school record for fewest points allowed since the women’s game went to 25-point rally scoring in 2008. Nevada scored just seven points in a set against UH in 2005, when teams played to 30. The Wahine held Boise State to six points in 2002.
"We started serving better and they couldn’t pass and couldn’t hit the ball in,’" UH coach Dave Shoji said. "They really helped us."
Idaho hit negative .133 in the set, with nine hitting errors. It had eight in the other two sets combined.
Hawaii hit .667 in the second. Starters Brittany Hewitt (.538), Emily Hartong (.389), Kanani Danielson (.333) and Chanteal Satele (.333) all hit better than .300 for the match. Danielson, the reigning WAC Player of the Week, had her eighth double-double of the season (15 kills, 11 digs). Satele added 12 kills and 5 blocks and Elizabeth Ka’aihue collected 18 digs.
The Wahine also extended another streak against the Vandals (10-11, 5-5), who have finished third in the WAC the past two years: UH has not dropped a set since Sept. 11, winning its last 32.
"You’ve got to give the players credit for preparing and taking everybody seriously," Shoji said. "That’s what it is. Everybody has little lapses and drops games here and there, but we haven’t done that. That’s a tribute to the players."
The first and third sets were up for grabs. Idaho went on a 7-3 run to close its first-set deficit to 19-16 and force UH to call timeout. Danielson got the Wahine to set point with an off-hand kill, then dived into the scorer’s table to save a ball and ran back out to finish the set with her eighth kill.
After the lopsided second, Idaho outscored Hawaii 7-2 to start the third. The Wahine caught the Vandals at 15 and scored 10 of the last 13 to win in 1 hour, 24 minutes.
Tomorrow’s 3 p.m. match at Boise State was scheduled to be broadcast live on 1500-AM, but because of a conflict with the baseball playoffs, the radio station will deliver updates only. Monday’s match in Logan, Utah, will again be shown live on ESPNU, beginning at 4 p.m.
WAC STANDINGS
| W | L | Pct. | GB | All | |
| Hawaii | 7 | 0 | 1.000 | — | 17-1 |
| New Mexico State | 8 | 1 | .889 | 1 | 14-9 |
| Idaho | 5 | 5 | .500 | 3 1/2 | 10-11 |
| Nevada | 4 | 4 | .500 | 3 1/2 | 10-11 |
| Boise State | 4 | 4 | .500 | 3 1/2 | 17-6 |
| Utah State | 3 | 4 | .428 | 4 | 15-5 |
| San Jose State | 3 | 5 | .375 | 4 1/2 | 8-13 |
| Fresno State | 2 | 5 | .285 | 5 | 7-11 |
| Louisiana Tech | 0 | 8 | .000 | 7 1/2 | 10-13 |
Last Night’s Results
Hawaii def. Idaho 25-20, 25-7, 25-19
New Mexico State def. Nevada 16-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-21
Utah State def. Louisiana Tech 25-13, 25-23, 25-12
Tomorrow’s Matches
Hawaii at Boise State, 3 p.m.
Fresno State at San Jose State
Louisiana Tech at Nevada
New Mexico Stat at Utah State
Monday’s Matches
Hawaii at Utah State, 4 p.m., live on ESPNU
Fresno State at Boise State
No.4 Hawaii def. Idaho 25-20, 25-7, 25-19
Rainbow Wahine (17-1, 7-0 WAC)
| s | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts | ||
| Hewitt | 3 | 9 | 2 | 13 | .538 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10.5 | |
| Danielson | 3 | 15 | 5 | 30 | .333 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 15.0 | |
| Mafua | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .333 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1.5 | |
| Maeda | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Satele | 3 | 12 | 4 | 24 | .333 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 14.5 | |
| Hartong | 3 | 8 | 1 | 18 | .389 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8.0 | |
| Waber | 2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 | |
| Goodman | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | .667 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 | |
| Kaaihue | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Forsythe | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .250 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2.5 | |
| Uiato | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .500 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | |
| Totals | 3 | 51 | 14 | 108 | .343 | 49 | 0 | 12 | 57.0 |
Vandals (10-11, 5-5 WAC)
| s | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts | |
| Taylor | 3 | 4 | 2 | 17 | .118 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6.0 |
| Walker | 3 | 7 | 5 | 26 | .077 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 |
| Milo | 3 | 4 | 7 | 29 | -.103 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 5.5 |
| Church | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | -.200 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 |
| Sele | 3 | 5 | 1 | 11 | .364 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6.0 |
| Feicht | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 |
| Chow | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pratt | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
| Hamilton | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carter | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Christman | 2 | 2 | 0 | 9 | .222 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.5 |
| Totals | 3 | 23 | 17 | 103 | .058 | 33 | 0 | 12 | 29.0 |
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)
Aces — Hawaii (1): Danielson. Idaho (3): Hamilton 2, Milo. Service Errors — Hawaii (5): Mafua 2, Uiato 2, Danielson. Idaho (2): Pratt, Hamilton. Assists — Hawaii (49): Mafua 38, Kaaihue 5, Uiato 3, Danielson 2, Forsythe. Idaho (23): Feicht 13, Carter 8, Hamilton 2. T — 1:24. Officials — Tom Givens, Dale Goodwin, David Sperry. A — 873.
