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Wahine sweep by sets record

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Hawaii's Michelle Waber had eight kills against Nevada last night.

A Hawaii record and another Western Athletic Conference volleyball team fell yesterday when the third-ranked Rainbow Wahine swept Nevada 25-13, 25-20, 25-22 at the Virginia Street Gym in Reno.

The Wahine (26-1, 15-0 WAC) have won 56 straight sets going into their final home match. That breaks the school record of 54 set in 2002. If UH beats Idaho in three Thursday, it will be the first time it has swept every conference match.

"We could have played better during some games on this trip," said UH coach Dave Shoji, "but when you look at the big picture, it’s amazing what this team has done. To continue to win every set they play … I don’t care what the competition is, that’s hard to do. No one win is extraordinary, but collectively if you string them together, it is pretty impressive."

Nevada (13-15) dropped its fourth straight and fell to 7-8 in the conference on its senior night. It closes the regular season at Louisiana Tech and can finish no worse than sixth, which guarantees it a place in the WAC tournament. Hawaii has clinched its 15th regular-season title in 15 years as a WAC member and will be the top seed.

Saint Francis alum Kylie Harrington was one of four Wolf Pack seniors honored before the match. She is sixth in career kills at Nevada and added five last night. But the all-conference hitter, who has led the Wolf Pack attack 17 times this season, had eight errors last night and hit for negative numbers.

"She struggled tonight, but if you look at her overall statistics, I think she’s had a good senior year," Shoji said. "Our size bothers her. We know she’s taken the most swings of anybody on their team, and we’re not leaving her uncovered at all."

Harrington didn’t get her first kill until the match was 40 minutes old. By then, the Wahine were cruising to their 21st consecutive victory and 40th straight conference win, which leads the country.

The only drama came in the final minutes, when Nevada scored five straight to tie the third set at 17. Hawaii got six of the last nine points behind Kanani Danielson, who finished with 14 kills — all in the final two sets. Chanteal Satele added 12 kills and hit .524.

"She’s really been a force on the right," Shoji said of Satele. "We’ve needed that."

Brittany Hewitt, who was in on all eight of UH’s blocks Saturday in San Jose, dropped in on four of five yesterday and added seven kills on .545 hitting. Freshman Michelle Waber had eight kills in two sets, and senior Elizabeth Ka’aihue had 16 of Hawaii’s 43 digs. Nevada senior Lindsay Baldwin had a match-high 14 kills.

Ka’aihue and setter Dani Mafua will be honored after Thursday’s match.

Notes

» The WAC tournament opens next Monday with seeds 3 and 6 playing the opener and Nos. 4 and 5 in the nightcap. The winner of the second match gets top-seeded Hawaii in the Nov. 23 semifinal at 5:30 p.m. Hawaii time. The championship is at 4:30 p.m. the following day and will be broadcast live on ESPNU.

 

WAC

  W L Pct. GB All
x-Hawaii 15 0 1.000 26-1
New Mexico St. 12 3 .800 3 18-11
Idaho 8 6 .571 6 1/2 13-12
Utah State 7 7 .500 7 1/2 19-8
Boise State 7 8 .467 8 20-11
Nevada 7 8 .467 8 13-15
Fresno State 5 9 .357 9 1/2 11-15
San Jose State 3 11 .214 11 1/2 8-20
Louisiana Tech 1 13 .071 13 1/2 12-19

x-clinches regular-season title and No. 1 seed at WAC tournament, Nov. 22-24, at Las Vegas

Today
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

 

No. 3 Hawaii def. Nevada 25-13, 25-20, 25-22

Wolf Pack (13-15, 7-8 WAC)
  s k e att pct d bs ba pts
Garvey 3 4 3 12 .083 2 0 1 4.5
Batista 3 7 2 14 .357 0 1 1 8.5
Anxo 3 8 2 18 .333 2 0 0 8
Harrington 3 5 8 29 -.103 8 0 0 6
Baldwin 3 14 3 30 .367 1 0 0 14
Santiago 3 0 0 5 .000 3 0 0 0
Chang 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Heinen 3 0 1 1 -1.000 5 0 0 0
Daum 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Link 3 0 0 0 .000 8 0 0 1
Ji 1 1 0 2 .500 0 0 0 1
Totals 3 39 19 111 .180 29 1 2 43

 

Rainbow Wahine (26-1, 15-0 WAC)
  s k e att pct d bs ba pts
Hewitt 3 7 1 11 .545 1 0 4 9
Danielson 3 14 6 35 .229 9 0 1 14.5
Mafua 3 1 0 1 1.000 4 0 0 1
Maeda 2 0 0 0 .000 3 0 0 0  
Satele 3 12 1 21 .524 2 0 2 13
Hartong 3 5 1 7 .571 2 0 1 5.5  
Waber 2 8 2 14 .429 1 0 1 8.5
Goodman 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0
Tuaniga 2 0 0 1 .000 0 0 0 0
Ka’aihue 3 0 0 0 .000 16 0 0 0
Griffiths 2 0 0 0 .000 2 0 0 1
Forsythe 2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 1 0.5
Uiato 3 0 0 0 .000 3 0 0 1
Totals 3 47 11 90 .400 43 0 10 54

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 — UNR (2): Harrington, Link. Hawaii (2): Griffiths, Uiato. Service Errors — UNR (5): Link 2, Anxo, Baldwin, Santiago. Hawaii (2): Hewitt, Satele. Assists –UNR (38): Santiago 37, Anxo 1. Hawaii (44): Mafua 36, Danielson 4, Ka’aihue 3, Uiato. T — 2:25. Officials — Kent Kitade, Bill Forrester. A — 782.

 

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