Eighth-ranked Hawaii weathered a few more Notre Dame storms Tuesday before taking out the Fighting Irish for the second straight night, 25-15, 25-18, 22-25, 25-21.
The Rainbow Wahine (19-1) ran their volleyball winning streak to 14 by punishing Notre Dame (11-8) for most of two sets, nearly stealing the third, then grabbing the fourth and not letting go with a little relief help from senior Chanteal Satele.
"I kind of hoped they would pack it in early, but they didn’t," UH coach Dave Shoji said of the Irish. "They showed me what I thought they were all about. They certainly had chances to close the gap in Game 4, but we got some key plays, especially by Chanteal, to give us a lift offensively."
The nonconference match was watched by 3,618 at Stan Sheriff Center.
After an awful offensive night Monday, freshman Jane Croson led Hawaii with 19 kills. Senior Kanani Danielson added 16 kills and 12 digs for her 12th double-double of the season. Brittany Hewitt had nine blocks and libero Lizzie Blake collected 16 digs, two off the career high she had in five sets last week.
Senior Kristen Dealy broke out of a slump that began in Monday’s second set to collect a double-double (13 kills, 16 digs) for Notre Dame, which also got 12 kills from freshman Jeni Houser. She made the UH block, which collected 13 stuffs, look bad for much of the final two sets.
The Fighting Irish have been to 17 NCAA tournaments and won nine Big East championships, but they are now 11-8 as they search for a lineup. Coach Debbie Brown brought them here to find out what was missing.
"Certainly the better your opponent is the more you can learn," Brown said. "Your weaknesses are exposed that much more."
The Wahine started freshman Kalei Adolpho in the middle again, went back to the season’s original lineup with Satele in the third, then morphed into something else in the fourth when Satele and Emily Maeda gave them a late lift.
"I thought Maeda made some great plays," Shoji said. "In Game 3 she had some key digs, but we couldn’t close it out. That’s a good combination (Maeda and Blake) defensively."
The Irish came out of the break on a mission, blowing to a 21-13 lead in the third set despite missing four serves. The Wahine cut into their deficit, scoring four points on Croson’s serve and three more on Blake’s to make it 23-21.
Notre Dame burned both timeouts during the rally, but after the second it finally closed it out.
"I think we got more emotionally invested," Brown said. "It’s a little easier to be that way when your backs are completely against the wall. Plus, in the third game, we started off with the lead, the only time in the entire series we had a real lead in a game."
Hawaii seized control again in the fourth, moving ahead 19-12, then holding off the Irish’s last gasp, with Satele subbing in to get three of the Wahine’s last four kills.
Early on, there were no remnants of Hawaii’s hitting frustration from a night earlier. In the opening set, the Wahine hit .406. The most vivid change came from Croson, who couldn’t reach .100 Monday but broke out with a .545 performance (6-for-11).
Hawaii blocked five balls and stifled Notre Dame into .061 hitting, with Hewitt getting in on four — the same number she collected the entire match Monday.
The dominance remained through the first 20 points of Set 2 — Hawaii was up 15-5 — before Notre Dame woke up. The Fighting Irish cut their deficit to 21-18 and UH called its final timeout.
Croson got a kill and a block, Danielson found free court from the back row and Hilary Eppink, the only real offensive threat Notre Dame could muster early, hit long to end it in a matter of moments.
UH will try to extend its 48-match conference winning streak Friday when it hosts Utah State at 7 p.m. The Wahine close this homestand Sunday with a 5 p.m. match against Idaho. They play at San Jose State, Fresno State and Nevada next week.
NO. 8 HAWAII DEF. NOTRE DAME 25-15, 25-18, 22-25, 25-21
FIGHTING IRISH (11-8, 4-3 BIG EAST)
|
S |
K |
E |
ATT |
PCT |
D |
BS |
BA |
PTS |
McHugh |
4 |
3 |
5 |
26 |
-.077 |
13 |
0 |
0 |
3.0 |
Brindock |
4 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
.250 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
2.0 |
Alugbue |
4 |
9 |
1 |
14 |
.571 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
12.0 |
Eppink |
4 |
9 |
6 |
25 |
.120 |
0 |
3 |
2 |
14.0 |
Dealy |
4 |
13 |
4 |
29 |
.310 |
16 |
0 |
1 |
14.0 |
Houser |
4 |
13 |
3 |
31 |
.323 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
16.0 |
Roof |
3 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
.333 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
3.0 |
Silva |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
15 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Severyn |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Vonderhaar |
1 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
.333 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2.0 |
Brown |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
TOTALS |
4 |
51 |
19 |
138 |
.232 |
58 |
4 |
10 |
66.0 |
|
|
RAINBOW WAHINE (19-1, 8-0)
|
S |
K |
E |
ATT |
PCT |
D |
BS |
BA |
PTS |
Hewitt |
4 |
5 |
3 |
14 |
.143 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
15.0 |
Danielson |
4 |
16 |
6 |
48 |
.208 |
12 |
0 |
4 |
20.0 |
Croson |
4 |
19 |
7 |
42 |
.286 |
10 |
1 |
2 |
24.0 |
Uiato |
4 |
3 |
0 |
6 |
.500 |
7 |
0 |
3 |
6.0 |
Hartong |
4 |
7 |
1 |
14 |
.429 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
8.0 |
Adolpho |
3 |
6 |
2 |
16 |
.250 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
8.0 |
Goodman |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1.0 |
Tuaniga |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Stauber |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Maeda |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
1.0 |
Satele |
3 |
5 |
0 |
10 |
.500 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
6.0 |
Blake |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
16 |
0 |
0 |
2.0 |
TOTALS |
4 |
61 |
19 |
150 |
.280 |
58 |
2 |
22 |
91.0 |
|
|
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 — Notre Dame 2 (McHugh, Brindock). Hawaii 7 (Croson 2, Blake 2, Hewitt, Uiato, Maeda). Service errors — Notre Dame 10 (Silva 3, Brindock 2, Alugbue 2, Houser 2, McHugh). Hawaii 6 (Croson 3, Uiato 2, Hartong). Assists — Notre Dame 50 (Brindock 36, Brown 8, McHugh 2, Dealy 2, Houser, Roof). Hawaii 55 (Uiato 46, Blake 3, Danielson 2, Croson 2, Hewitt, Maeda). T — 2:06. A — 3,618.