Wahine cruise past South Dakota

Have to. Need to. Will.

That’s the mantra for the No. 7 Hawaii volleyball team as it heads into today’s match with No. 23 Creighton in the Shocker Classic in Wichita, Kan.

The Rainbow Wahine know they have to play better than they did when sweeping South Dakota 25-19, 25-21, 25-21 on Thursday night in their first road match of the season.

They need to play better if they want to extend their winning streak to eight against a very good Bluejays team (7-2, 0-0) that had the luxury of sitting back and watching Hawaii pull away for an 83-minute sweep in front of an announced crowd of 3,165 at the Charles Koch Arena.

And if Dave Shoji knows his team, the Wahine will play better today against Creighton, which comes in after a four-set loss to UCLA in Denver on Saturday.

"We know Creighton is a better team than South Dakota and we will have to play well and play smart," Shoji said. "It is a short turnaround for us, but we should be able to get some rest after another night here and be ready.

"It will be a good, early test for us."

The Wahine had their hands full Thursday with the Coyotes (9-4, 0-1), whose unorthodox style of play — offensive-minded setter and left-handers at opposite and one middle position — kept Hawaii off-balance for the better parts of each set. But when it counted the most — at the ends of each set — the Wahine were better physically than the Coyotes with their balance on offense and defense.

Senior hitter Emily Hartong put down 13 kills and 13 digs to turn in her fifth double-double. Senior hitter Tai Manu-Olevao put down a career-high 13 kills, and senior setter Mita Uiato added her fifth double double (40 assists, 11 digs).

Senior libero Ali Longo had 14 digs as Hawaii won the dig battle 55-40.

Junior hitter Kendall Kritenbrink had 14 kills and 11 digs for the Coyotes, who suffered their first loss in five matches.

"We did talk about our shortcomings, things like giving up the tip shots, facing an active setter (Tori Kroll with six kills and no errors in 10 attempts)," said Shoji, who used all 13 players on the travel roster. "(South Dakota) hit some routes we hadn’t seen. But we were able to pull away, play with a sense of urgency against a team that should win its conference."

There was some concern when the Coyotes rallied late in sets, 21-19 in Set 1, 21-21 in Set 2 and 23-20 in Set 3. Each time, Hawaii was able to answer with solid closing runs, with reserve senior middle Kristiana Tuaniga putting an exclamation point on the first road win with her second kill of the night.