Box Score Box Score
SAN JOSE, Calif. - The No. 3 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine (25-1, 13-0 Western Athletic Conference) defeated the San Jose State Spartans (13-14, 7-6 WAC) 30-18, 30-19 and 30-17 in front of a record crowd of 1,749 at the Event Center, ending the WAC regular season.
Kim Willoughby led Hawai`i with 19 kills, 11 digs, five blocks and a .471 hitting percentage. Lily Kahumoku continued her solid play this week, adding 16 kills, 10 digs and a .400 hitting percentage. Lauren Duggins added five kills, two aces and eight blocks while Melissa Villaroman (16 digs) and Hedder Ilustre (12 digs) played well in the back row.
UH started out slow early, as San Jose State held a 5-4 lead. But then Kahumoku got hot on her serve, pushing the lead to 10-5 before the Spartans called a timeout. The Rainbow Wahine were able to extend their lead to 12-5 out of the break before Kimberley Noble was able to stop the UH streak with a kill. They then used another run to extend their lead to 18-7 before a Gustin kill ended game one 30-18.
Hawai`i kept it rolling in the second game, jumping out to a 5-0 lead on Ilustre's serve. The Spartans kept fighting, cutting the lead to 17-16, before Nohealani Tano came in and gave UH a lift towards a 13-3 run that ended the second game 30-19.
The Rainbow Wahine again jumped out early, going up 14-6 to force a Spartan timeout. But Hawai`i kept rolling as they took the third game 30-17 on a San Jose State service error.
UH will now go back to Hawai`i before heading to Reno, Nevada on Thursday, Nov. 21, for the WAC tournament, where they will be the No. 1 seed. Seedings will be released on Monday. Following the tournament, which runs from Nov. 22 to Nov. 24, the Rainbow Wahine will head to Utah to face two former WAC foes in Brigham Young and Utah on Nov. 26 and 27.
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