SEATTLE >>
Keegan Cook had a prime seat to watch Hawaii storm back from a rough start on Friday.
So even after Washington finished off a commanding opening set against the Rainbow Wahine on Saturday, the Huskies coach wanted to no part of another possible comeback.
A night after UH bounced back from the ragged start to knock off Mississippi State in the first round of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament, the Rainbow Wahine couldn’t answer Washington’s attack at the net and from the service line and the Huskies advanced to the round of 16 with a commanding 25-16, 25-14, 25-13 sweep before a crowd of 3,322 at Alaska Airlines Arena.
“Just a ton of respect for how they play and how they compete,” Cook said of the Rainbow Wahine. “I think what you saw in our response tonight was a sign of that respect. Didn’t want to give them an inch from start to finish, especially after that first set, just knowing how they compete.”
Washington outside hitter Claire Hoffman powered a highly efficient attack with 20 kills on .366 hitting and the Huskies, the No. 15 overall seed in the tournament, earned a date with No. 2 Texas in a regional semifinal in Austin later this week.
The Rainbow Wahine return home today after closing the season at 22-8 and were eliminated in the Seattle sub-regional for the fifth time since 2010. For the fourth time, the end came in a second-round loss to Washington on the Huskies’ home floor.
“It’s been a very long journey,” UH coach Robyn Ah Mow said of the program’s comeback after having the 2020-21 season canceled. “I think these girls played their hearts out.”
Washington knocked out UH in five sets in 2012 and four sets in 2014. But Saturday’s rematch didn’t have nearly the drama of those matches.
Washington (26-4) controlled the game from the service line and at the net. The Huskies fired four of their 10 aces in the opening set and posted six blocks in the second while hitting a collective .365, the highest percentage for a UH opponent this season.
The Wahine finished the night with the program’s lowest point total of the since the start of rally scoring in 2001 in the 71-minute match.
“Keegan coaches those girls up. They’re an awesome team, always have been,” Ah Mow said. “We did scout them and they did exactly what we thought they were going to do, and we just did not capitalize on what we needed to do on our side. They played a great game.”
The loss closed the college careers of UH seniors Skyler Williams, Brooke Van Sickle and Janelle Gong.
Van Sickle had seven kills in 28 attempts in her final UH indoor match, bringing the Battle Ground, Wash., product full circle.
“I used to play in club tournaments here so it was kind of like a start and finish, so it was cool to be home,” Van Sickle said.
UH middle blocker Amber Igiede led the Wahine with eight kills on 15 swings for a .467 performance and was in on four of UH’s five blocks.
Hoffman, a 6-foot-2 senior, hammered eight kills in the first set and continued to pound from the left side for a Washington attack that posed a significant size advantage.
Samantha Drechsel, a 6-foot-4 outside hitter, added 11 kills while hitting .417 for a Washington offense paced by two-time Pac-12 Setter of the Year Ella May Powell.
“When you have this one putting you in really good situations,” Hoffman said with a nod to Powell, “That always makes my day a lot easier. I think we passed really well tonight and we put ourselves in really good situations for Ella to give us the sets we needed.”
The Wahine traded kills with the Huskies early in the first set but had no answer for Hoffman, and Washington took control with a 6-2 run to open up an 18-11 lead. The surge included a dig-kill for Washington libero Lauren Bays when her overpass fell in the middle of the UH defense.
The lead grew to 22-13 on Shannon Crenshaw’s second ace of the set. Crenshaw would finish with four aces and Washington’s total matched a season high for a UH opponent, tying Utah’s output in a four-set win over the Wahine on Sept. 10 in Salt Lake City.
“Not taking away from Washington, I thought Mississippi (State) had really tough serves yesterday and I thought we handled them pretty well,” Ah Mow said. “Just one night that’s just off. … Whoever wins the serve and pass is going to win the game and we definitely did not win that tonight.”
The Washington block defined the second set when the Huskies turned the Wahine away for six consecutive points to take an 11-4 lead. The lead grew to 16-6 on back-to-back Crenshaw aces and the Huskies took a 2-0 lead in the match.
“When you keep going (deeper) into the tournament you’re going to look at blocks that big across the net,” Ah Mow said. “It’s not that big in the Big West, obviously we know that coming into this … and it just wasn’t our day.”
Ah Mow went to the bench often in the final two sets and nearly the entire roster saw playing time. But Washington continued to roll, opening the third set with a 5-0 run and ending the night with Dreschsel’s 11th kill to earn a measure of payback for a four-set UH win over the Huskies early in the 2019 season.
“I’m proud of everyone this season,” Van Sickle said. “Looking from where we started to where we ended was tremendous growth from every individual. I’m just proud of the team. Yeah, tonight didn’t go as well as we wanted to, but we had to deal with adversity and we’ve been just fighting through all of that.”
