Guts and glory

Taller, more talented, tougher volleyball conference? Not so much, but eighth-ranked Hawaii was in sole possession of the most crucial quality in Sunday’s upset of sixth-ranked Stanford.

The Rainbow Wahine had more guts.

On the third night of the season, before 6,052 elated fans at their Stan Sheriff Center, they came back with a vengeance to beat the Cardinal 17-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-17.

That they won their fifth consecutive Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational meant little by the time Emily Hartong was named most outstanding player and teammates Jane Croson and Ali Longo joined her on the all-tournament team. It was the win over Stanford and the will to win the Rainbow Wahine had shown that had Hawaii celebrating so ferociously.

“Athletically just matching up with Stanford is tough,” UH coach Dave Shoji said. “They’ve got great athletes. They are young. That’s why we beat them. They are too young at some positions.

“I wouldn’t want to play them at the end of the year. I think we’ll get better. They’re going to get way better. I’m pretty happy we got them early.”

The Wahine did not get them early Sunday. Stanford barely broke a sweat in the opening set. Hawaii hit a respectable .290, getting seven kills from Croson, and still got slammed.

The Wahine did not touch all-region middle Carly Wopat, who buried all five swings. They didn’t touch much, going without a block and getting outdug by the much taller Cardinal, who hit a ridiculous .500.

“They came back to earth,” Shoji said. “If they were going to continue to do that it would have been a short night. We had to serve a little tougher and we just got some breaks in Game 2, and got some momentum. I wouldn’t say we dominated, but we had everything under control.”

Hawaii took its first lead of the night at 6-5 in the second, on one of freshman Jade Vorster’s nine kills. It would be tied 12 times, the last at 22. Setter Mita Uiato tipped down UH’s 23rd point, and Wopat — blocked on her previous attempt — hit long.

Hartong was stuffed on the first set point. On the Wahine’s next try, Uiato made a spectacular save, fisting a ball backward into the court while going full speed at a table. Croson paid her back by blasting her 12th kill to end it.

The crowd went crazy, and only got crazier as the night wore on. By the end, the Stanford players on the court looked like they were in a daze. The bench was dead silent.

“They were really quiet,” Uiato said. “I looked at them and they weren’t even close to each other. They were just looking down.”

After sweeping Saint Mary’s opening night and squashing Albany — without using Wopat and Rachel Williams, its all-region juniors — Stanford had never been challenged.

Hawaii had, by the Gaels on Saturday. It rallied then and it rallied harder Sunday.

UH hit .311 against a team that was up to 10 inches taller at some spots. Hayley Spelman, the Cardinal’s 6-foot-6 senior hitter, sat the final set with four kills and a .154 percentage. Williams had five kills and six errors all night and Wopat had four kills and four errors in the final three sets.

“(Assistant coach) Scott (Wong) did a really good job of scouting them,” Croson said. “We knew where she was going to tip and where to shift our block.”

Stanford even took out senior setter Karissa Young for a short time.

“They started making some gross errors, hitting balls out by four or five feet,” Shoji said. “That happens when you get frustrated and try something radical to get a kill. At that point we were frustrating them and they helped us out.”

The Wahine pulled away again, next chance they got. Three straight Hartong kills put them up 7-5 in the third and Stanford could not come back.

Saint Mary’s 3, Albany 1

Lauren Corpy and Kristina Graven each put down 16 kills and the Gaels overcame a sluggish start in defeating the Great Danes for third place, 21-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-13.

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).
Service aces — Stanford 1 (Cook). Hawaii 2 (Hartong, Longo). Service errors
— Stanford 10 (Benjamin 4, Luck 3, Cook, Gilbert, Howard). Hawaii 8 (Croson 2,
Longo 2, Hartong, Lelepali, Maeda, Uiato) Assists — Stanford 45 (Cook 37,
Bugg 3, Howard 2, Benjamin, Gilbert, Luck). Hawaii 53 (Uiato 42, Longo 5,
Maeda 3, Croson 2, Stauber). T — 2:00. Officials — Dan Hironaka, Dickson
Chun, Pat Akana. A — 6,052.