Nebraska and Penn State on the road? Acceptable consecutive losses to open the season.
Wisconsin and Kansas State at home? Not in anyone’s volleyball universe.
For the first time since the 2005 AVCA/NACWAA Showcase in Omaha, Neb., Hawaii is opening the year 0-2.
Kansas State rode the momentum after rallying for a Set 2 victory to stun No. 6 Hawaii and a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,745, 19-25, 30-28, 25-22, 25-20 Saturday night in the second match of the Chevron Invitational.
The Rainbow Wahine (0-2) will try to salvage the early season when facing Arizona (0-2) for third place at 5 p.m. No. 4 Wisconsin (2-0) and Kansas State (2-0) will play for a true championship at noon.
In Saturday’s first match, the Badgers swept the Wildcats, 26-24, 26-24, 25-22.
Sophomore hitter McKenna Granato put down a career-high 19 kills but the Wahine had few other options on offense. The Wahine were outblocked 12-8 and outdug 83-75 by the Wildcats, who picked up their first victory over Hawaii in six meetings.
“These were two big losses for us,” said freshman setter Norene Iosia, who came in late in Set 2 and finished with four aces and 21 assists. “We have to reset tomorrow, have to be mentally tough, go out hard 100 percent.
“At the end of the second (set) we didn’t carry that fight. The third started off slow and the energy wasn’t the same. We let easy balls fall and we couldn’t find our rhythm.”
Hawaii has never started 0-2 at home in program history. The 1976 Wahine squad did go 0-2 against UCLA to open but the matches were played at Blaisdell and then War Memorial Gym on Maui.
Last night’s ‘what ifs’ were punctuated by the end of Set 2 where Hawaii was poised to get up 2-0 when bringing in Iosia for senior Tayler Higgins down 22-20. Iosia had three aces during a 4-0 run that gave the Wahine what would be the first of two set points.
Kansas State wouldn’t fold, holding off both of Hawaii’s attempts to end it while getting four swings at it. The Wildcats had help in evening the match when junior hitter Kalei Greeley — seeing her first action in the front row this season — had her deep corner shot land just long.
“If we had won Set 2, it might have been a different story,” Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. “But we couldn’t close it out. It’s disappointing when you swing for the game and can’t finish.
“We’re not mature enough yet to win those big points. It’s just the way we are right now. We don’t have a lot of options.”
Greeley played all six rotations after Set 1 despite being about 80 percent following shoulder surgery, according to Shoji. She responded with six kills and a career-high 18 digs.
“We don’t have a real back-row attack right now,” Shoji said. “We left Greeley in for her court presence but don’t have a lot of options there.”
One may be to go to a 6-2 using both setters, something Shoji said he may do against Arizona today. He used both briefly last night.
Leading Kansas State to one of the program’s signature wins were senior hitter Brooke Sassin (18 kills) and Kylee Zumach (14).
Wisconsin 3, Arizona 0: Junior hitter Lauryn Gillis put down 12 kills and the Badgers had to rally in the first two sets to turn back the Wildcats. Arizona had set point at 25-24 in both Sets 1 and 2 but couldn’t close.
Senior All-American setter Lauren Carlini finished with a double-double (34 assists-13 digs) and junior libero Kelli Bates had a match-high 20 digs.
For Arizona, sophomore hitter Kendra Dahlke had a match-high 17 kills. Senior setter Penina Snuka (Kahuku) had 31 assists and 14 digs, and senior libero Laura Larson added 15 digs.
After having 60 attempts against Kansas State on Friday, Arizona senior Kalei Mau (Kaiser) played sparingly against Wisconsin. Mau was 4-0-5, hitting .800; UA coach Dave Rubio said she is expected to play today against Hawaii.
