Box Score Box Score

RENO, Nev. - The No. 2 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine (28-1) defeated the Nevada Wolf Pack (21-8) 30-19, 30-32, 30-13 and 30-23 in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship match in front of a crowd of 1,023 at the Virginia Street Gym, winning their third straight WAC Tournament title.

Lauren Duggins had an outstanding match with 15 kills and seven blocks while hitting a tournament-record .789. Kim Willoughby had a match-high 26 kills, while Lily Kahumoku had 19 kills and 13 digs. Maja Gustin played big at the net with 12 kills and six blocks while Nohealani Tano added six blocks as well.

The Rainbow Wahine started out on fire, scoring six straight points to force Nevada coach Devin Scruggs to call a quick timeout. Hawai`i continued to roll out of the break, taking leads of 10-3 and 15-6 before the Wolf Pack started to trade points with the Rainbows. UH was again able to extend their lead to 26-14 but UNR's Laura Wooley and Salaia Salavea responded with three big kills to cut the lead back to 27-18. But it wasn't enough as a Gustin kill ended game one with a 30-19 UH win. The Rainbow Wahine hit an outstanding .611 in the first game, with Duggins hitting a perfect 5-for-5.

Nevada opened up their first lead of the match early in the second game, going up 4-2. The Wolf Pack were able to extend their lead up to 7-4, forcing Hawai`i coach Dave Shoji to call his first timeout. UN got another point on a Michelle More block before Hawai`i responded with a 5-1 run to tie the game at 9. Nevada pushed the lead back up to 13-9 and 17-13 before a Duggins kill and two aces by Kahumoku cut the Wolf Pack lead to 17-16. UN continued to lead until two Willoughby kills tied the game again at 19. It continued to be tight before a couple of aces by Gustin put the Rainbow Wahine up 24-21, forcing another timeout by Scruggs. The Wolf Pack came back as kills by Wooley and Cristine Harms tied the game again at 25 before the teams traded small runs to give Nevada game point at 29-28. Willoughby responded with two kills to give Hawai`i game point at 30-29, but a block and a UH hitting error ended game two 32-30.

Game three started out close again as the match saw ties at 2, 4, 5 and 6 before UH went on a 3-0 to go up 9-6. Hawai`i continued to roll taking a 15-11 lead into the media timeout then running off four more points on the strength of a block and a kill by Gustin to go up 19-11 before UN took a timeout. But it couldn't stop the Rainbow Wahine attack as they went on another big run of 7-1, forcing Scruggs to take her last timeout of the game before a block by Duggins and Tano ended game three 30-13. In all, Hawai`i ended the third game on a 16-2 run.

The Rainbow Wahine were in for another fight early in game four, as the teams were tied at 7. But Hawai`i kept firing as they jumped out to a 14-10 lead. But the Wolf Pack kept fighting as they came back to tie the game again at 14-14. The game was again tied at 16 before a kill by Duggins capped a 4-0 run that put UH up 20-16. The Rainbow Wahine continued to roll taking their lead up to 27-21 before a Salavea error gave UH game four, 30-23.

Laura Wooley led the way for the Wolf Pack with 15 kills, while Salaia Salavea and Michelle More had 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Cristine Harms added eight kills and 12 digs while libero Emily Baracco had 11 digs.

Jennifer Carey, Duggins, Kahumoku and Willoughby were named to the all-tournament team with Willoughby earning MVP honors.

UH will now head to the state of Utah for two non-conference matches, against Brigham Young and Utah, to close out the regular season. The Rainbow Wahine will play the Cougars on Tuesday and the Utes on Wednesday before learning their NCAA fate on Sunday, Dec. 1, when the NCAA Selection Show airs at 5 p.m. Hawai`i time.

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