Wahine wrap WAC title
Third-ranked Hawaii’s 15th regular-season Western Athletic Conference volleyball title came much like its previous 14 — quickly and convincingly.
The Rainbow Wahine (25-1, 14-0 WAC) swept San Jose State, 25-17, 25-17, 25-21, yesterday before a pro-Hawaii crowd of 687 at Spartan Gym in San Jose, Calif.
Hawaii’s 20th consecutive victory gives the Wahine the No. 1 seed and a bye on the first night of the WAC Tournament, which is Nov. 22-24 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
From there, Hawaii heads to the NCAA tournament, hoping it has improved despite the past few months of dominance.
"I think individually we’re better," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "Brittany (Hewitt) has established herself as a force in the middle, blocking and hitting. (Emily) Hartong’s numbers have gone up steadily. Chanteal’s (Satele) numbers have improved since the first couple weeks. Everybody is more settled into their role. Collectively, it’s hard to see a lot of progress as far as results. It’s hard to gauge."
Not when the Wahine are beating teams in 76 minutes, as they did yesterday. They extended their NCAA-best regular-season conference winning streak to 39 and have not lost a WAC match since Oct. 12, 2008.
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They have not dropped a set since Sept. 11 and take a 53-set winning streak into today’s 4 p.m. match at Nevada. The school record is 54 straight sets, in 2002.
Hewitt dropped in on all eight Hawaii blocks yesterday, including match point, and junior Kanani Danielson bounced back from another poor start to finish with a match-high 13 kills. The All-American hit .500 in the final two sets.
Hawaii also got huge contributions from its freshmen, with Michelle Waber (7 kills), Hartong (6) and Kaela Goodman (4) hitting a combined .417. The Wahine serving was a weapon, with nine aces to the Spartans’ zero. Hewitt and seniors Dani Mafua and Elizabeth Ka’aihue had two aces each, while Ka’aihue contributed 13 digs.
"We served mch better than the other night," Shoji said. "We just need to be more aggressive and hit the spots and try to create some bad situations on the other side of the net. I thought we did that today."
San Jose State, which starts three players from Hawaii, dropped to 8-20 and 3-11 in the WAC with its eighth straight loss. Spartans sophomore Caitlin Andrade (Kamehameha ’09) is now 10th in career assists at SJSU.
The Wahine’s final regular-season home match is Thursday against Idaho. Senior night festivities will honor Mafua and Ka’aihue.
HAWAII DEF. SAN JOSE STATE 25-17, 25-17, 25-21
Rainbow Wahine (25-1, 14-0 WAC) | |||||||||
s | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts | |
Hewitt | 3 | 5 | 0 | 12 | .417 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 12.0 |
Danielson | 3 | 13 | 6 | 28 | .250 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 14.5 |
Mafua | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1.00 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 4.0 |
Maeda | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Satele | 2 | 5 | 3 | 13 | .154 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 5.5 |
Hartong | 2 | 6 | 0 | 10 | .600 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 |
Waber | 2 | 7 | 1 | 15 | .400 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7.5 |
Goodman | 3 | 4 | 1 | 11 | .273 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.0 |
Tuaniga | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | -.250 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Kaaihue | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 |
Griffiths | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 |
Forsythe | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | -.500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Uiato | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 3 | 41 | 14 | 98 | .276 | 42 | 2 | 13 | 58.5
|
Spartans (8-20, 3-11 WAC) | |||||||||
s | k | e | att | pct | d | bs | ba | pts | |
Blume | 3 | 13 | 4 | 33 | .273 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 13.0 |
Amian | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | -.200 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 |
Miraldi | 3 | 6 | 4 | 15 | .133 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6.5 |
Zellmer | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1.00 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Akana | 3 | 2 | 4 | 15 | -.133 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3.0 |
Andrade | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | .333 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 1.5 |
Japhet | 3 | 8 | 1 | 16 | .438 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 9.5 |
Griest | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -.250 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 |
McAtee | 2 | 4 | 1 | 12 | .250 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4.5 |
Casino | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -.333 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Turner | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Marple | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Totals | 3 | 35 | 19 | 107 | .150 | 38 | 0 | 9 | 39.5 |
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 (9): Mafua 2. Hewitt 2, Ka’aihue 2, Griffiths 2, Hartong. SJSU: none. Service Errors — Hawaii (5): Mafua 2, Ka’aihue, Griffiths, Uiato. SJSU (4): Casino 2, Blume, Zellmer. Assists — Hawaii (39): Mafua 29, Ka’aihue 4, Uiato 4, Danielson, Hartong. SJSU (31): Andrade 26, Casino 2, Blume, Zellmer, Turner. T — 1:16. Officials — Verna Klubnikin, Lara Donaldson. A — 687.
WAC VOLLEYBALL STANDINGS
W | L | Pct. | GB | All | |
x-Hawaii | 14 | 0 | 1.000 — 25-1 | ||
New Mexico State | 11 | 3 | .846 | 3 | 17-11 |
Idaho | 8 | 5 | .615 | 5 1/2 | 13-11 |
Nevada | 7 | 6 | .538 | 6 1/2 | 13-13 |
Boise State | 7 | 8 | .467 | 7 1/2 | 20-11 |
Utah State | 6 | 7 | .462 | 7 1/2 | 18-8 |
Fresno State | 5 | 9 | .357 | 9 | 11-15 |
San Jose State | 3 | 11 | .214 | 10 | 8-20 |
Louisiana Tech | 1 | 13 | .071 | 13 | 12-19 |
x-clinches regular-season title and No. 1 seed at WAC tournament, Nov. 22-24, at Las Vegas
Yesterday
Hawaii def. San Jose State, 25-17, 25-17, 25-21
Idaho def. Louisiana Tech, 25-22, 21-25, 27-25, 21-25, 15-10
Boise State def. New Mexico State, 25-20, 26-24, 25-23
Today
Hawaii at Nevada, 4 p.m. Hawaii time
Tomorrow
Utah State at Louisiana Tech
Fresno State at Idaho
Wednesday
Utah State at New Mexico State
Thursday
Idaho at Hawaii, 7 p.m., Stan Sheriff Center
Nevada at Louisiana Tech
San Jose State at Fresno State
END REGULAR SEASON