Box Score Box Score

HONOLULU - The No. 1 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine (23-1) lost their first match of the season to the No. 4 Stanford Cardinal (24-3) 31-29, 30-28 and 30-24 in front of a sold out crowd of 10,252 at the Stan Sheriff Center Sunday.

The loss stopped UH's match winning streak at 23 and their game-winning streak at 54. The 54 consecutive games won ranks fourth in NCAA history.

Leading the way for UH were the left-side tandum of Kim Willoughby and Lily Kahumoku. Willoughby had 20 kills, three aces and 15 digs while Kahumoku added 19 kills and 10 digs. Lauren Duggins threw in eight kills while Melissa Villaroman added 12 digs.

Stanford jumped out to a 9-7 lead early in game one before Willoughby brought them back with a strong serve, including one ace to put UH ahead 13-9. The Cardinal clawed their way back, taking a 15-14 lead into the media timeout. After giving up another point, Hawai`i stormed back on the strength of senior Hedder Ilustre's serve, and two kills and a block by Duggins, to get the lead back at 19-16. But Stanford continued to answer, getting the lead back at 28-27 before holding game point at 29-27. A Willoughby kill and a block by Maja Gustin and Jennifer Carey tied the game again before an Ashley Ivy kill and a block by Anna Robinson and Sara McGee gave the Cardinal the win in game one, 31-29.

Willoughby started off the second game with an ace, while Kahumoku added two quick kills to give UH the 4-1 advantage. But the Cardinal faught back as the game stayed within one or two points until they went on a 6-1 run to extend their lead to 24-18. Hawai`i crawled back into the game with a couple of runs to get within one point at 27-26. But Stanford would just sideout their way to victory as a Willoughby foot fault gave the Cardinal game two at 30-28.

Then the defending national champs took over in game three, holding leads at 15-9 and 18-10 before letting UH back into it when the Rainbows cut the lead to 26-22. But that's when Oganna Nnamani took over scoring three of Stanford's last five points before McGee ended the match at 30-24 with a kill.

Nnamani led the way for the Cardinal with 19 kills and a .630 hitting percentage, while 2001 Player of the Year Logan Tom added 16 kills and nine digs. McGee hit .471 with 11 kills and Ivy had nine kills and a match-high 16 digs.

The match was the last regular season home match for seniors Carey, Ilustre and Margaret Vakasausau as they were honored after the match.

Hawai`i will now head on the road to finish out the Western Athletic Conference season at Fresno State on Nov. 15 and at San Jose State on Nov. 16. Following that, UH will go to Reno, Nevada for the WAC tournament.

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