Box Score Box Score

HONOLULU -- The No. 4 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine (3-0) defeated the No. 7 UCLA Bruins (2-1) 30-28, 30-25, 28-30 and 30-13 in front of a crowd of 8,604 at the Stan Sheriff Center Monday night to win the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic championship.

Lily Kahumoku led the way for Hawai`i with 26 kills and 11 digs while hitting .469. Kim Willoughby had another solid performance with 19 kills, 10 digs and two blocks, while Maja Gustin made a good return to the starting lineup, adding nine kills and two blocks. Margaret Vakasausau (10 digs), Lauren Duggins (12 digs) and Melissa Villaroman (11 digs) also added double-digit dig performances.

Willoughby started the night on fire, scoring the first three points of the match. Hawai'i had a lead at 22-16 before UCLA went on a 11-2 run to go up 24-22. After trading points, Kahumoku took over scoring three of the final five points as UH took the game 30-28.

Hawai`i again jumped out to an early lead in game 2 at 5-0. But the Bruins kept fighting, tying the game at 11, 12, 13 and 14 before the Rainbow Wahine went on another run. They had the lead as high as 27-20 before closing out the second game 30-25.

Game 3 was a back-and-forth battle as neither team got a lead of over three points. UH was up 26-23 but couldn't close the door as the Bruins faught back to win the game 30-28.

That was all the wake-up call that Hawai`i needed though as they started out to a 7-3 lead before freshman Susie Boogaard served 13 straight points to put UH up 21-5. The lead got as high as 24-7 before the Rainbow Wahine ended up taking the match with a 30-13 game 4 win.

Hawai`i will now face San Francisco, San Diego State and Washington in the Aston Imua Challenge from Sept. 5-7. UH's first match will be against San Francisco on Thursday, Sept. 5 at 7 p.m. The match will be preceded by Washington and San Diego State, scheduled to start at 5 p.m.