Wahine in elite company

DES MOINES, Iowa >> From sweet to elite. The emphasis being on sweet.

Unseeded and undeterred, Hawaii continued to play NCAA volleyball bracket buster, taking down a second seeded team in as many matches to move from sweet 16 on Friday to elite eight on Saturday. Led by junior opposite Nikki Taylor’s 18 kills and a defensive plan that took away most everything Penn State wanted to do — including trying for a national championship three-peat — the Rainbow Wahine swept the Nittany Lions 25-22, 27-25, 25-16 at Wells Fargo Arena.

It was the first time in six matches that Hawaii prevailed over Penn State, which in itself would be cause for celebration. But there was little time for that, as the Rainbow Wahine have a quick turnaround to prepare for their first regional final appearance since 2009 and their second straight Big Ten opponent in No. 2 seed Minnesota.

The Golden Gophers (29-4) looked every bit the Big Ten champion in turning back conference rival Illinois 25-22, 25-23, 25-17 in Friday’s first match.

“I don’t know how we’ll match up with them,” Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said of the Gophers, who did not make the NCAA tournament last season. “I’m very impressed with their athleticism and vertical. I was watching them in warmups thinking, ‘How does anyone stop them?

“Our celebration will be short. Obviously we’ll need to take away their strengths. They have great athletes, but we saw great athletes tonight. Our team played their hearts out. They believed they could win and they did.”

On a night when two of the top three blocking teams in the country — Hawaii at No. 1 and Penn State at No. 3 — combined for just eight stuffs, it was the touches by the Rainbow Wahine front-line players that made the difference. Hawaii slowed down Penn State’s best shots, including those by senior hitters Aiyana Whitney and Megan Courtney, giving the Wahine defense time to set up and convert on transition.

Whitney finished with a team-high 10 kills, hitting .286, and Courtney — the Most Outstanding Player for last year’s championship match — had nine, hitting .261.

“We didn’t block balls down, didn’t get the numbers we have been getting,” Shoji said of the team’s 3.20 bps average. “We slowed them down enough and kept putting pressure on them.

“We took away (Whitney’s) slide; (Courtney’s) a great player but we were able to neutralize her.”

Hawaii effectively neutralized Penn State fans who had traveled to watch their team. The crowd of 4,653 took on a decidedly pro-Wahine vibe, which included the fans from the Nittany Lions’ Big Ten rivals Minnesota and Illinois.

Hawaii was the only team with its own band and cheerleaders and “having the seventh man meant a lot to us,” Taylor said. “We have such loyal and dedicated fans, they are so knowledgeable.

“The band and cheerleaders brought the energy we’re used to having at home. They brought the Hawaii spirit with them.”

Senior hitter Tai Manu-Olevao was unable to speak after the match, having lost her voice with very vocal on-court leadership. Her actions spoke more loudly as she finished with 14 kills with one error, including a key back-row attack that ended a nerve-wracking Set 1.

Hawaii had set point at 24-20 but had trouble finishing. Penn State closed to 24-22 before Manu-Olevao ended the comeback.

Set 2 was as tight as Set 1 with the same number of ties (12) and lead changes (2). Penn State had two chances at evening the match, at 24-23 and 25-24. Each time Hawaii, which had not dropped a Set 2 all season, held, using a Nittany Lions net violation, one of senior middle Olivia Magill’s nine kills and another bullet from Manu-Olevao to take a 2-0 lead.

Shoji had called timeout when trailing at 24-23 and “Nikki reminded us that we had not lost the second set all season,” Shoji said. “That gave us a little inspiration.”

“We were at a little bit of a disadvantage at that point,” Taylor said. “But we knew we had the ability to convert, were siding out at a high percentage. I let the team know that we just need to hold and build on what we had been doing.”

The Rainbow Wahine not only ran their Set 2 streak to 30 for the year and 36 dating back to last season, but also ran their winning streak to 24 straight by running away in the third.

Hawaii jumped out early at 6-2, with both of Penn State’s points coming on Wahine service errors. Kalei Greeley’s 4-0 service run, including two aces, expanded the lead to 12-8.

Penn State never got closer than six, the last at 21-15, but Hawaii closed it out with a 4-1 run. Taylor’s final kill meant the Big West had a team in the regional final for the first time since Long Beach State in 2001.

(Hawaii advanced to three final fours and two other regional finals between 2002 and 2009 as a member of the Western Athletic Conference).

“I thought Hawaii played terrific tonight,” Penn State coach Russ Rose said. “They had a great match and tonight was a reflection of the up-and-down season that we’ve had.

“We made a lot of mistakes and Hawaii didn’t. They had more terminal hitters than we did. We lost because they were better.”

Penn State had one more dig than Hawaii (41-40), with libero Kendall Price finishing with a match-high 14. But the Wahine countered with five players with five or more digs, led by Manu-Olevao and Taylor each with eight.

Hawaii is the only unseeded team left in the tournament as well as the only non-Power Five team remaining. BYU (West Coast) was swept by Nebraska, Loyola Marymount (West Coast) lost in four to Kansas and Creighton (Big East) lost in four to USC.

Hawaii def. Penn State, 25-22, 27-25, 25-16

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 — Hawaii 5 (Greeley 2, Manu-Olevao 2, Higgins). Penn State 4 (K. Pierce 2, L. Pierce, Weiskircher). Service errors — Hawaii 6 (Taylor 3, Higgins 2, Manu-Olevao). Penn State 2 (Courtney, Lee). Assists — Hawaii 54 (Higgins 48, Kahakai 4, Greeley 2). Penn State 41 (Weiskircher 39, Courtney, K. Pierce).

T — 1:31. Officials —Jim Kuziela, Mary Blalock. A — 4,653.