Wahine recover to win in 4

The 3 R’s when coming back off a tough loss?

Recover. Refocus. Relax.

On Saturday afternoon, No. 20 Hawaii added a fourth "R" — relief.

The Rainbow Wahine (4-2) threw themselves a block party to finish second in the 27th Hawaiian Airlines Classic volleyball tournament. Led by junior middle and tournament MOP Olivia Magill’s 15 kills and program-record 12 block assists, Hawaii used a season-high 20 blocks to turn back St. John’s 19-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-22 in 2 hours and 6 minutes at the Stan Sheriff Center.

A matinee crowd of 3,198 saw junior hitter Tai Manu-Olevao rebound from a slow start to finish with 13 kills and freshman Kalei Greeley 11 kills and six block assists against the Red Storm (5-2). Avoiding consecutive home losses — the last coming in this event in 2008 — was anything but easy, especially having to come back after Friday’s five-set loss to No. 22 Oregon some 14 hours later for the earliest scheduled home match in history.

In the tournament finale, the Ducks (6-0, 3-1) needed two hours and a balanced attack to claim the championship with a 25-18, 24-26, 25-19, 25-19 win over New Mexico (2-4, 0-3)

"I’m so proud of our team, to come back after going five with Oregon was tough," said senior libero Sarah Mendoza, who had an ace and eight digs. "We grew as a team and we are jelling. But, as a team, we need to get better at starting off better."

Showing that they definitely were not morning people, the Wahine were collectively a step slow starting off against the Red Storm. St. John’s, a very efficient side-out team, took advantage of Hawaii’s struggles on both offense and defense to take control for good at 8-7.

The Wahine rebounded from hitting .067 in Set 1 while also slowing Red Storm junior All-American Karin Palgutova (7 kills with 1 error on 11 swings in Set 1). Hawaii outblocked St. John’s 6-0, with sophomore setter Tayler Higgins in on four, and Magill continuing to be nearly untouchable with five kills as the team hit .441 in evening the match.

Set 3 was a battle between Palgutova and Manu-Olevao, both of whom put down six kills. The difference was the perfection on attack by Magill and Greeley, who combined for seven kills on 13 attempts with no hitting errors, and Magill’s dominance with four block assists.

Set 4 was a roller-coaster ride for both teams. Hawaii got down early, trailing 5-1 and 13-7. A 4-0 serving run by Manu-Olevao tied it at 15 and sophomore defensive specialist Katiana Ponce’s 3-0 serving run helped the Wahine to a 21-19 lead.

At 21-20, Magill took over, putting down her 15th kill and teaming with junior hitter Ginger Long to block Palgutova and then sophomore middle Briana Guzman for match point. The Red Storm held off two attempts but not a third before Long ended it with her fifth kill.

"I knew it was going to be difficult for us to have much emotion after Friday," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "It was kind of expected. I’m glad we could figure some things out.

"Tai worked her way out of the negative hole (in Set 1). She took a lot of swings (40) on Friday but she kept plugging away. We blocked well and, again Olivia was huge."

Magill finished the tournament with 44 kills and 7 errors on 84 attempts, hitting .444, with 25 block assists. Her 12 against the Red Storm was a program record for a four-set match; Juliana Sanders and Brittany Hewitt shared the previous mark of 10.

Palgutova finished with a match-high 18 kills and was the tournament’s kill leader with 48. Senior hitter Aleksandra Wachowicz added 10 kills and junior libero Shawna-Lei Santos (Sacred Hearts) 16 digs.

"After Set 1, we knew two things," St. John’s coach Joanne Persico said after her team’s first meeting with Hawaii. "We were pleased with how we played, and we knew Hawaii would make adjustments. Their blocking was just outstanding and their serves got us out of system. We started getting predictable.

"We take a lot from this tournament. We played some of the best teams in the country and we saw very different types of teams. New Mexico was athletic. Hawaii was ball-control. And Oregon was big and showed us a 6-2 (two-setter system). We go home with great experience."

No. 22 Oregon 3, New Mexico 1

The Ducks had their struggles but had too much firepower for the Lobos. Senior All-America hitter Liz Brenner finished with a second straight double-double (15 kills, 11 digs). Junior Martenne Bettendorf put down 15 kills and sophomore hitter Naya Crittenden added 10.

Senior hitter Chantale Riddle led UNM with 16 kills and sophomore hitter Julia Warren had 10. Freshman libero Ashley Kelsey finished with a match-high 15 digs.

No. 20 Hawaii def. St. John’s 19-25, 25-15, 25-20, 25-22

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 — St. John’s 1 (Wachowicz). Hawaii 5 (Manu-Olevao 2, Higgins, Mendoza, Kahakai). Service errors — St. John’s 7 (Wachowicz 2, Palgutova, Mutlugil, Santiago, Santos, Sen). Hawaii 14 (Higgins 3, Manu-Olevao 3, Anderson 2, Mendoza 2, Greeley, Koelsch, Kahakai, Ponce). Assists — St. John’s 45 (Mutlugil 40, Palgutova 2, Santos 2, Karkkainen). Hawaii 44 (Higgins 38, Koelsch 3, Long, Manu-Olevao, Kahakai). T — 2:06. Attendance — 3,198.