The block party was late in starting, but when it did, it was loud enough that neighbors could have filed a noise complaint. Yet there was no complaining inside the Stan Sheriff Center, where a crowd of 4,722 watched as Hawaii matched its ranking with 17 blocks, stuffing Iowa’s upset hopes resoundingly.
Led by senior middle Olivia Magill’s 11 blocks and junior hitter Nikki Taylor’s 22 kills, the Rainbow Wahine remained undefeated by turning back the Hawkeyes 18-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-21 in the 27th Hawaiian Airlines Classic. Sophomore hitter Kalei Greeley and junior setter Tayler Higgins both had double-doubles — Greeley with 12 kills and 11 digs and Higgins with 44 assists and 11 digs — as Hawaii improved to 4-0, its best start since going 5-0 to open 2012, after 120 minutes.
Hawaii faces American in Saturday’s second match. The Eagles (3-2) appeared a little jet-lagged in Friday’s opener, falling to No. 25 UCLA 25-19, 25-19, 25-18.
The Bruins (2-1) and Hawkeyes (2-2) meet at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. UCLA is seeking its 11th Hawaiian Airlines Classic title and Hawaii its 12th in the tournament that concludes with the two long-time rivals meeting Sunday.
After sputtering in Set 1, "I thought we served tougher and saw how their offense was working," said Magill, finishing one block shy of her career high. "It was sporadic in the beginning, we were a little tense. But then we began to loosen up.
"Higgs (Higgins) did a good job spreading out the offense, we got a lot more 1-on-1 opportunities. We were playing a little sloppy and just needed to calm down and stay mentally tough. We’ll learn from what we did tonight."
The biggest lesson is to cut down on the unforced errors. Hawaii finished with 14 service errors to six aces, a ratio that Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said he could live with … with one big asterisk.
"We served rather poorly to start but did force them into poor passing," he said. "If we can do that, then we’ll live with the service errors. We didn’t have any blocks in the first because we didn’t serve tough enough.
"We’re still struggling a little bit with passing. McKenna (freshman Granato) came and stabilized it. It’s something we need to figure out and get into a rhythm."
Give credit to Iowa for some of the disruption. The Hawkeyes, who run a three-middle attack, had the Wahine block looking disorganized early.
"I think we surprised them a little," said Iowa junior setter Loxley Keala, an ‘Iolani graduate playing in the Sheriff Center for the first time. "They’re a really good team, did a great job adjusting their block. We knew coming in we’d be undersized. And Nikki Taylor did such great job."
Taylor finished three off her career high in kills set on Aug. 29 against Wichita State. She also was in on six blocks, as was Higgins, many when finally getting a handle on Iowa junior hitter Lauren Brobst.
Brobst finished with 14 kills, only four of which came after Set 2, and was in on four of the team’s six blocks. Sophomore libero Annika Olsen had a match-high 19 digs
Hawaii appeared to be well in control of the match when it took a 15-12 lead in Set 4. Iowa wouldn’t go away, launching an 8-3 run to take a 20-18 lead.
After an Olsen service error, it was the Wahine’s turn to make a run, pulling ahead at 22-20 behind kills by Tai Manu-Olevao and Taylor. Another service error by the Hawkeyes made it 23-21 and Hawaii closed it out on kills by Taylor and Manu-Olevao.
UCLA 3, American 0
Jordan Anderson put down 13 kills and Reily Buechler added 11 as the Bruins rebounded from being swept Sunday at home by Loyola Marymount by sweeping the Eagles. Libero Taylor Formico had 14 of UCLA’s 54 digs and defensive specialist Rachel Inouye (Punahou) added one of the team’s three aces.
American, winning the block war 8-5, got eight kills from Allison Cappellino. Libero Hoakalei Dawson (‘Iolani) had a team-high 11 digs.
NO. 17 HAWAII DEF. IOWA 18-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-21
HAWKEYES (2-2) |
|
S |
K |
E |
ATT |
PCT |
D |
BS |
BA |
Mariani |
4 |
5 |
1 |
17 |
.235 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
McNeil |
4 |
4 |
3 |
15 |
.067 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
Klostermann |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
Keala |
4 |
4 |
0 |
5 |
.800 |
13 |
0 |
0 |
Brobst |
4 |
14 |
7 |
40 |
.175 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
Janota |
4 |
8 |
7 |
25 |
.040 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
Koukol |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Olsen |
4 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1.000 |
19 |
0 |
0 |
Davey |
2 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Gunderson |
4 |
2 |
2 |
17 |
.000 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
Kelly |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
TOTALS |
4 |
39 |
21 |
123 |
.146 |
52 |
1 |
10 |
RAINBOW WAHINE (4-0) |
|
S |
K |
E |
ATT |
PCT |
D |
BS |
BA |
Higgins |
4 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
.333 |
11 |
0 |
6 |
Magill |
4 |
7 |
2 |
25 |
.200 |
0 |
0 |
11 |
Manu-Olev. |
3 |
7 |
3 |
14 |
.286 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
Greeley |
4 |
12 |
2 |
29 |
.345 |
11 |
0 |
4 |
Taylor |
4 |
22 |
12 |
52 |
.192 |
4 |
0 |
6 |
Maglio |
2 |
3 |
3 |
9 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Ponce |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Koelsch |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Granato |
4 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
.000 |
6 |
0 |
2 |
Anderson |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Huff |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Mitchem |
2 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
.000 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
Kahakai |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
.000 |
15 |
0 |
0 |
TOTALS |
4 |
55 |
25 |
145 |
.207 |
52 |
0 |
35 |
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 — Iowa 4 (Janota 3, Klostermann). Hawaii 6 (Taylor 2, Granato 2, Greeley, Anderson). Service errors — Iowa 10 (Keala 3, Olsen 3, Janota 2, McNeil, Klostermann). Hawaii 14 (Granato 4, Higgins 2, Manu-Olevao 2, Taylor 2, Greeley, Anderson, Mitchem, Kahakai). Assists — Iowa 36 (Keala 26, Kelly 4, McNeil 2, Olsen 2, Mariani, Klostermann). Hawaii 53 (Higgins 44, Kahakai 4, Koelsch 2, Granato 2, Manu-Olevao). T — 2:00. Officials — Dickson Chun, Ernest Ho. A — 4,722.