MINNEAPOLIS >> The “No ‘I’ in Team” philosophy came through when it was most needed for Hawaii in the win-or-go-home, season-on-the-line, fifth set of Friday’s NCAA volleyball tournament first-round contest at the Sports Pavilion.
In a best-of-five, 2-hour and 22-minute marathon, at 12-12 it came down to a race to three points and a few minutes of who would blink first. No. 12 Hawaii won the stare-down with adversity and momentum, advancing to today’s second round with a 25-22, 25-20, 22-25, 16-25, 15-13 nail-biter of a victory over USC.
The Rainbow Wahine (23-5), winners of 11 straight, move on to face No. 1 Minnesota (26-4). The Golden Gophers got 17 kills from Big Ten Player of the Year Sarah Wilhite in a 25-21, 25-12, 25-20 sweep of North Dakota in Friday’s second match.
It was the 33rd consecutive home victory for Minnesota, the longest active streak in the country. The Gophers, 14-0 at the Sports Pavilion this year, ended Hawaii’s season last Dec. 12 in the regional final 3-1 in Des Moines, Iowa.
“It’s going to be a match of two different styles of play,” said Mark Pryor, coach of the eliminated Fighting Hawks (26-10). “Minnesota would like to go as fast as they can and Hawaii has a couple of kids who can really score.
“It will depend on if Hawaii can catch up with the speed of Minnesota and counter-punch with the high balls out of system, whether it’s (senior opposite Nikki) Taylor or (senior hitter Annie) Mitchem. I expect a very good match.”
After Hawaii took a 2-0 lead over USC on Friday, it appeared that the Wahine were headed for a short night. Instead, “It was a game of momentum, it swung back and forth,” Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. “We had the first two games our way, then SC started playing really well.
“That fifth game was tied until 12. We survived a really tough match and we’re happy to be playing tomorrow.”
Set 5 was tied 12 times, all the way through 12, with two lead changes. Hawaii took the lead for good when Brittany Abercrombie’s attack from the right side failed to clear the net.
Abercrombie tried to free-ball it over, but it again didn’t clear the net, giving the Wahine match point. Freshman Khalia Lanier, daughter of former NBA great Bob Lanier, put down her 26th kill but couldn’t get her 27th, hitting wide to give Hawaii its 19th consecutive first-round victory.
“In the end, it wasn’t one person who won it for us,” said Taylor, who had seven kills with one error on 14 swings in Set 5. “It was the back row playing lights-out, Emily (Maglio) with a career high (15 kills), Annie (Mitchem) and McKenna (Granato) coming up with the games they did, Norene (setter Iosia) testing me when setting me at the end.
“We had started not playing for each other, getting really negative, and that is never something that is helpful. We needed to flush out whatever happened to Sets 3 and 4, put them behind us, and remember the way we played in Sets 1 and 2.
“We remembered what Hawaii volleyball is, that we’re here for a reason, and that carried us.”
One play that did seem to spark the Wahine was that by junior reserve setter Kendra Koelsch. The 6-foot-1 Koelsch replaced 5-11 freshman Iosia at 10-10 with her heads-up play, a second-touch left-handed dump into the middle of the court went untouched by the USC defense, putting the Wahine up 11-10.
“Bless her heart, it wasn’t the right time to do it and I later told her that,” Shoji said. “She was off the net, couldn’t jam it down like she usually does, put it in the middle of the court … SC didn’t react well. It wasn’t the right time, but it went down and I was happy about that.”
Shoji said he also was happy about advancing despite not playing all that well.
“We feel fortunate to be going into the second round,” he said. “Minnesota is a really good team, they have no real weaknesses. They have five great hitters.
“On the other hand, I think we can win this. If we get them into some passing trouble, play defense like we can … anything can happen in this tournament. If you’re not playing well, you can lose.”
Case in point: On Friday, the upsets included No. 5 seed Kansas losing in five at home to Creighton, UNLV over Utah 3-1, San Diego falling to Baylor 3-2 and Boise State earning its first NCAA tournament victory, defeating a ranked Western Kentucky team in five.
In addition to Taylor’s 23 kills, her eighth match with 20-plus kills, Maglio had a career-high 15, with no hitting errors. At one point, the junior middle had 10 kills with no errors in 16 swings.
Mitchem added 12 kills, one off her career high, and sophomore Granato finished with 11. Junior libero Savanah Kahakai had 19 of the team’s 76 digs.
As good as Hawaii’s defense was, that of the Women of Troy was better. Senior libero Taylor Whittingham, wearing a brace due to a torn ACL, was spectacular with 32 of SC’s 89 digs, and Lanier — wearing her father’s No. 16, finished with a double-double, adding 13 digs.
