Box Score Box Score

FRESNO, Calif. - The No. 3 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine (24-1, 12-0 Western Athletic Conference) survived a huge scare as they defeated the Fresno State Bulldogs (22-5, 10-3 WAC) 30-19, 30-24, 25-30, 22-30 and 15-10 in front of a crowd of 1,396, the third largest in Bulldog history, in the North Gym.

The win preserved UH's 64-match conference winning streak, while giving the Rainbow Wahine their seventh straight regular-season WAC title. The two games lost to the Bulldogs were the first two to a WAC team this season. It was also the first time the Rainbow Wahine went to five games this year and the first time they were taken to five games by a WAC team since Oct. 18, 2001.

Lily Kahumoku led the way for Hawai`i with a career-high 33 kills, nine digs and a .418 hitting percentage. Kim Willoughby had 30 kills and 11 digs while Melissa Villaroman had a career-high 33 digs in the back row. It was the first time that a UH player had over 30 digs in a match since 1989. Middles Maja Gustin and Lauren Duggins also added eight kills and five blocks each while Hedder Ilustre had 11 digs. Both setters also played well as Jennifer Carey had 30 assists, five blocks and two kills, while Margaret Vakasausau had 39 assists, six digs and two aces.

UH jumped out to a 10-4 lead early on in game one, sparked by three kills by Kahumoku. Fresno State was able to fight back before the first timeout as the Rainbow Wahine went in with a 15-8 lead. Hawai`i then went on to win the first game 30-19.

The Bulldogs came out a little better in game two as they held UH to a 10-9 lead early. After being down 15-13 at the break, Fresno State worked their way to take their first lead of the match at 17-16. The Rainbow Wahine fought to get the lead back at 21-20 before winning game two 30-24.

Then the Bulldogs started to make their run. They started out the third game up 8-4 and continued to roll, winning game three 30-25.

In game four, Fresno State dominated, jumping out early and never relinquishing the lead before taking the game 30-22.

In the fifth and deciding game, the Bulldogs jumped out early 3-1. But Hawai`i then responded with three straight points to go up 4-3. After two Fresno State points, UH responded with two of their own to go up 6-5 and the fight was on. The two teams then traded points back-and-forth before the Rainbow Wahine reeled off three straight points to go up 11-8. They traded points with Fresno State before scoring the last three points of the match, taking game five 15-10.

Hawai`i will now face San Jose State tomorrow at 7 p.m. Pacific time. The team will then come home for a few days before heading to Reno, Nevada, for the WAC tournament from Nov. 22-24. UH will find out the pairings on Monday, Nov. 18, but have locked up the top seed in the tournament.

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