Box Score Box Score
HONOLULU -- The No. 5 University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine defeated the University of Michigan Wolverines 30-24, 24-30, 30-23 and 30-14 in the second night of the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic. The match was played in front of 6,951 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Wahine were led by senior Tanja Nikolic, who had career highs in both kills (19) and digs (18), while hitting .394. Kim Willoughby also came up big with her third consecutive 20-kill match of the season. Setter Margaret Vakasausau took full advantage of her first start of the season, recording a career-high 48 assists.
The match started with the two teams playing even until the Wahine broke out to an 11-8 lead. Hawai'i then took a 15-11 lead into the media timeout before the Wolverines stormed back to cut the lead to 19-18. But that proved to be as close as Michigan would get, as the Wahine took the game 30-24.
Michigan came out hot in game 2, taking a quick 5-0 lead, forcing UH Coach Dave Shoji to take a timeout. Hawai'i continued to struggle out of the break with the deficit getting as high as nine points before they went on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 24-21. But the Wolverines would not be denied as they took game 2, 30-24.
Hawai'i started game 3 on tear, taking an early 7-2 that forced Wolverine coach Mark Rosen to take a timeout. Michigan responded with a 4-1 run of their own to cut the Wahine lead to 8-6. But a couple of booming Willoughby sparked a run that gave Hawai'i a 17-10 advantage. The Wahine were able to extend their lead as high 25-16 before taking the game 30-23 on a Vakasausau ace.
Game 4 started out tight as neither team could get a run going until Willoughby slammed down a kill, then finessed over a dump to give the Wahine a 13-9 lead. Hawai'i then jumped on a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 21-11. UH continued to roll on, finishing out the match with a 30-14 game 4 win.
Hawai'i will now face the No. 7 UCLA Bruins in the 7:00 p.m. game tomorrow night to decide the HAL Wahine Classic championship. The Bruins defeated Kansas State in four games earlier in the night. The Wildcats will face Michigan in the 5:00 p.m. match.
