Hawaii volleyball said so long to Ruston, La., on Friday with a 25-9, 25-9, 25-14 smackdown of Louisiana Tech. It was the most one-sided win for the eighth-ranked Rainbow Wahine since the sport went to rally scoring in 2001.
UH’s final Western Athletic Conference match at the 8,000-seat Thomas Assembly Center was watched by 352.
It left UH coach Dave Shoji pleased with his players, sympathetic toward the Techsters (9-14, 0-7) and admitting he would miss just one thing about Ruston.
“Dowling’s Smokehouse,” Shoji said. “The BBQ place across the highway.”
All 12 travel players put in an appearance. UH was again led by left sides Jane Croson (11 kills) and Kanani Danielson (7), but setters Mita Uiato and Monica Stauber got every attacker at least two kills.
Hawaii (17-1, 7-0 WAC) had just eight hitting errors, with Brittany Hewitt, Emily Hartong, Kristiana Tuaniga and Chanteal Satele going mistake-free. UH avoided the LaTech block completely as its passing rallied from a poor performance in Wednesday’s gritty five-set survival test at New Mexico State.
That marathon win, and the 5-plus hours of driving that sandwiched a 90-minute flight to Dallas, did not slow the Wahine.
“We were due for a letdown,” Shoji said. “I don’t think our players were going to let that happen.”
The Wahine have won their past 48 regular-season conference matches. They have won their past 12 overall, heading into a nonconference series with Notre Dame on Monday and Tuesday at Stan Sheriff Center.
Fans are invited to stay after Monday’s match to watch “Hawaii Five-0” on the arena video screens. It is the episode shot partly on the UH campus and includes action during and after the Sept. 17 match against Pepperdine.
It will have more drama than the LaTech match. The Techsters fell to 0-20 against UH, amassing more hitting errors than kills in a 77-minutematch.
» Box score, C9
