A frustrated Morgan Martin is a focused Morgan Martin.
The senior for the Hawaii beach volleyball team channeled a disagreement with a ref’s ruling into a blocking clinic at Queen’s Beach on Saturday. Martin had 13 of her 17 stuffs during the second exhibition dual with USC as she and sophomore Pani Napoleon won their Flight 1 match 18-21, 21-9, 15-12 over freshman twins Audrey and Nicole Nourse.
It capped the Rainbow Wahine’s 4-2 victory over the Women of Troy, with Hawaii taking the last three flights. The teams tied 3-3 in Saturday’s first dual.
It was a rematch of last May’s NCAA tournament semifinal that USC won 3-0.
“This doesn’t mean anything,” SandBows coach Jeff Hall said of the exhibitions. “But it is always nice to beat them.
“We talked about resiliency and I’m happy with the way we came out — our second wave really carried us.”
The duals used three courts, with Flights 4-6 playing first, followed by Flights 1-3. In both duals, USC had a 2-1 lead going into the final three flights; the difference in the second dual was senior Julia Scoles and freshman Ilihia Huddleston shaking off their 22-20, 29-27 loss in the opener to pick up a point in the second contest.
Martin and Napoleon swept their opener 21-17, 21-16, against Joy Dennis and Nicole Nourse. First-year coach Dain Blanton switched his pairs for the second dual, while Hall stayed with his same lineup.
Martin-Napoleon adjusted to seeing double against the Nourse twins in their second match, but “that’s beach, you have to be flexible and tenacious, no matter who is on the other side,” Martin said.
The turning point in the final match of the day came on a point that Hawaii lost late in Set 1. Martin appeared to pick up yet another block, which would have given the duo a 19-17 led. Instead, the ruling was a blocking violation that gave USC the tying point at 18. It jump-started a 4-0 closing run that gave the Nourses Set 1, 21-18.
Martin had the first serve of Set 2, where she set the tone with an opening ace and added two blocks in a 5-0 start. At 17-8, Martin continued to dominate with four kills and two more blocks.
The tight Set 3 turned into a runaway starting with Napoleon’s ace that gave UH a 9-7 lead. Martin added four kills and her final block in pushing it to 14-10.
USC used a Martin hitting error and a block of Napoleon to stave off the inevitable. Martin found the open backcourt to end it.
“I’m easily frustrated with calls that I disagree with,” Martin said. “After we lost (Set 1), I said, OK, I guess we have to win the next two. And we did.”
Saturday also saw the successful debut of freshman Maia Hannemann, daughter of former Rainbow Warrior setter Albert. She and senior Amy Ozee teamed to win both their matches.
“It was very different, not having my family here to watch,” said Hannemann, who grew up in California and Florida. “But just getting to represent UH … I get chills thinking about it.”
Hawaii and USC conclude their fall exhibition with today’s pairs tournament. Play begins with the Round of 16 at 7 a.m. The 3 p.m. final will be televised on OC 16 Sports.
