Bringing the heat

Jane Croson has always been comfortable from the service line, with her awe-inspiring jump serves that live up to the Brazilian term jornada nas estrelas (journey to the stars).

The Hawaii sophomore hitter has found another line to dominate — that being the 3-meter — at which she is finding equal success.

The back-row attack is nothing new to the Rainbow Wahine offense. It has helped Hawaii compensate for being a little undersized against taller teams.

But few have had the heat that Croson puts on the ball from 10 feet off the net. It’s not a new weapon in her arsenal, however. She continues to become more comfortable with the heat-seeking missiles that singe the opponent’s defense.

Sunday night, in the championship match of the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational, Croson was devastating early from 3 meters and nearly unstoppable from everywhere late en route to a match-high 21 kills in the 17-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-17 win over No. 6 Stanford. She took 44 swings and hit .318, completing a double-double with 11 digs.

“We had to go to Croson early. She was the only one finding the holes in the block and Mita (setter Uiato) went to the hot hitter,” Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. “She can get to any ball, always takes an honest swing and puts some pace on it.

“She is maturing as a person. She’s much more disciplined and that’s paying dividends.”

Uiato says she is comfortable setting Croson on the pipe (3-meter play) and “it’s not an emergency thing, it’s always an option,” Hawaii’s junior setter said. “Jane will hit anything from anywhere and that gives me a lot of comfort knowing that.

“Both Jane and Emily (junior hitter Hartong) are so good back there. We went away from Jane later so I could get my middles involved. But what I’m seeing in Jane is how she is really maturing, she’s disciplined and, well, she’s beach-y. She is smart and has all the shots.”

Last year, Croson wasn’t quite as diversified. She went to her favorite shot — line — often, and often tried to power through the block.

This season, after months of playing on the beach, Croson has brought her sand repertoire indoors with even more success.

“We practice the 3-meter attack a lot,” she said. “It helps keep the (opponent’s) block honest and it’s something they aren’t expecting.

“Mita does a great job of putting the ball up there. It really helps when you have a good setter.”

Even with the match on the line, it didn’t stop Croson from swinging away, either on the attack or on her serve. She had the green light to go for it on the sky-ball serve and, as the match wore on, it wore down Stanford’s serve-receive.

“In the first game we didn’t serve as tough,” she said. “We went for it after that.

“It didn’t surprise me that we could win. We knew we had to step it up. Yes, it’s early and rankings don’t mean anything, but it still feels good to beat a team higher than you. It give us confidence.”