UH skips by Beach

Hawaii found its offense and a volleyball team that has lost more swagger than it has, all in the same night.

The 13th-ranked Rainbow Wahine cranked up their attack to survive a series of funks and defeat Long Beach State 25-27, 25-19, 25-18, 25-22 on Saturday.

A week after crashing and burning on the mainland, Hawaii (18-4) swept at home to move into third alone in the Big West at 7-3. It is two matches behind first place — and 24th-ranked — Cal State Northridge.

The Beach (12-10) fell into fourth at 5-4, before 6,206 at the Stan Sheriff Center. It came here on a four-match winning streak.

The 49ers, who won their third and last NCAA title in 1998, have not won in Hawaii in more than 20 years.

They had their shots Saturday, against a UH team that had lost three of its last five coming in — and most of its offense.

That re-appeared last night, with freshman Nikki Taylor breaking out for 12 kills — all in the first three sets — on .440 hitting. Sophomore Tai Manu-Olevao, shut out Friday against UC Irvine, added 11 kills — all but one in the first two sets — on .320 hitting.

"Both our young players bounced back, had fantastic matches tonight," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "If you’re going to play young people you’re going to live and die by them. That’s to be expected. But they both had terrific matches tonight."

Their offense, some shockingly good defense from Taylor and late heroics by middles Jade Vorster and Kalei Adolpho were enough to complement All-American Emily Hartong’s 21 kills.

The Wahine outblocked the Big West’s best blocking team, 15.5 to 9.5, with Vorster in on eight, Taylor seven and Adolpho six.

They also outdug the 49ers 65-54. Libero Ali Longo collected 18 for the second straight night and defensive specialist Sarah Mendoza had a career-high 12, along with giving Hawaii a much-needed passing boost.

The Wahine took big leads in the first three sets and rallied from a 17-12 deficit in the fourth against the strangely silent and formerly formidable 49ers.

The Beach scored 10 of the last 12 points in the opener, denying four set points with Taylor Johnson serving.

"I don’t know what happened at the end of Set 1," Shoji said. "It was just disappointing and we were way ahead. At that point we probably should have just gone to Hartong, but we decided to get more people involved in the offense. It was not the right time to do it."

Still, Hawaii hit .303 in that set, then broke to a 19-12 advantage in the second while hitting nearly .500.

Moments later the 49ers, out of timeouts again, got in another great serving groove. Libero Tyler Jackson scored five straight to make it 20-18 as Shoji took out three starters and burned both his timeouts.

Ashley Kastl — subbing for setter Mita Uiato in the front row — finally got a UH kill and Hartong got another to make it 22-18.

The Beach would get just one more point this time, with Manu-Olevao dropping her ninth and 10th kills and Uiato’s serve inducing a poor pass.

The Wahine scored 19 of the first 26 points in the third. They led 24-12 before fading again, losing six set points before Manu-Olevao ended it.

The comeback in the fourth might have been the most telling moment in an up-and-down night. All Hawaii’s losses have come in five sets, so when it went on a 6-1 surge to tie the fourth at 18, it was critical.

Scoring the final three points was even more critical.

"It shows a little character and a little bit of what we didn’t have the last couple weeks," Shoji said. "We weren’t finishing."

The Wahine don’t play at home again until their final homestand, Nov. 22 and 23 against UC Davis and Cal State Northridge — the teams that beat them last week. They travel to Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara next weekend.

Saturday
UC Davis def. Cal State Fullerton 25-14, 25-21, 20-25, 20-25, 16-14
Cal State Northridge def. UC Riverside 25-19, 25-19, 25-17
UC Santa Barbara def. Cal Poly  25-20, 25-12, 26-24
Hawaii def. Long Beach State 25-27, 25-19, 25-18, 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 — LBSU 4 (Cabrajac 4). Hawaii 1(Hartong). Service errors — LBSU 9 (Aigner-Swesey 3, Jackson 2, Johnson 2, Reid, Cabrajac). Hawaii 7(Manu-Olevao 2, Longo 2, Taylor, Hartong, Kawamura). Assists — LBSU 49 (Juley 41, Cabrajac 6, Hampton, Johnson). Hawaii 54 (Uiato 47, Longo 3, Higgins 2, Manu-Olevao, Hartong). T — 2:12. Officials — Bill Forrester, Wayne Lee. A — 6,206.