Box Score Box Score

RENO, Nev. - The No. 2 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine (27-1) defeated the San Jose State Spartans (14-15) 30-24, 30-25 and 30-24 in the semifinals of the Western Athletic Conference Tournament at the Virginia Street Gym, advancing to their fifth straight WAC tournament final.

Kim Willoughby led the way for Hawai`i with 25 kills, eight digs and two aces. Lily Kahumoku added 12 kills, a match-high 15 digs and four blocks while Maja Gustin had 10 kills and a tournament record .625 hitting percentage. Lauren Duggins also came up big at the net with six blocks, while Hedder Ilustre and Melissa Villaroman played well in the back row with 13 and 11 digs, respectively.

The Spartans went up 2-1 early before Duggins blocked two straight balls in a 7-2 run that gave the Rainbow Wahine the 8-4 lead. San Jose State responded with two points before Hawai`i scored three more points, forcing a Spartan timeout at 11-6. The two teams traded points for a while before SJSU was able to make a small run to cut the UH lead to 16-13. Hawai`i then went on a 6-0 run, on the strength of three Willoughby kills, running their advantage to 22-13. The Rainbow Wahine were up as high as 26-16 before San Jose State took a 5-0 run to force UH head coach Dave Shoji to take his first timeout at 26-21 UH. From there, the teams just traded points until a Willoughby kill from the back row ended game one 30-24.

San Jose State again started out well in the second game, jumping out to a 8-6 lead early on. But Kahumoku then responded with two kills and block in a 4-0 Hawai`i run that forced a SJSU timeout. The Spartans were able to come back and tie the game at 14 before UH went on a 7-2 run to go up 21-16. San Jose State was again able to cut into the Rainbow Wahine lead as a Fran Pozzi kill made the score 22-20, causing Shoji to call a timeout. UH got their lead up to 24-20 but the Spartans forced three straight Hawai`i errors to tie the game again at 24 and force another UH timeout. Willoughby came out of the timeout on fire, scoring all six of the remaining Rainbow Wahine points, one block and five kills, to give UH the 30-25 game two victory. Willoughby had 14 kills in the second game alone.

Game three again started with the Spartans jumping out to an early lead at 9-7. The two teams kept it close as San Jose State went into the media timeout up 15-14. The game remained tight until a big kill by Kahumoku put UH up 21-17, forcing a SJSU timeout. Hawai`i continued to roll out of the timeout as two Willoughby kills ended the third game 30-24 to finish the UH sweep.

Stephanie Pascucci and Kimberly Noble led the way for the Spartans with 11 kills apiece. Liz Hudson had a great all-around match with eight kills, two aces, 13 digs and three blocks while hitting a team-high .333. Libero Jeanine Haldi led the way for the Spartans in the back row with 14 digs.

Hawai`i will next play in the WAC championship match tomorrow at 1 p.m. Pacific against the winner of the Nevada-Fresno State match, which was played after the UH match.

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