Box Score Box Score
HONOLULU - The No. 2 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine (36-1) defeated the No. 7 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (34-4) 32-34, 33-31, 30-24 and 30-25 in front of a crowd of 9,412 in the NCAA Regional Finals Saturday, giving UH a trip to the NCAA Championships for the third time in the past four years.
Kim Willoughby stepped up huge with 36 kills, 13 digs, four blocks and a .394 hitting percentag. Lily Kahumoku also came up big with 25 kills and 19 digs. Kanoe Kamana`o set a rally-scoring record for UH with 71 assists in a four-game match, while Melissa Villaroman posted a season-high with 25 digs. Nohealani Tano added 10 kills and nine digs while Lauren Duggins posted eight kills, three blocks and 13 digs.
Georgia Tech put a great effort together, giving the Rainbow Wahine their biggest fight in a month and a half. The Yellow Jackets came out to a 10-9 advantage at the start of game one before the Rainbow Wahine scored four-straight points on the serve of Kamana`o to go up 13-10. Georgia Tech stormed back to tie it at 13-13 before UH took a slight 15-14 lead at the media timeout. The two teams would go back-and-forth throughout the rest of the game as Willoughby got the Rainbow Wahine their first game-point at 29-28. The Yellow Jackets would hold off two game-points before taking their first game point at 31-30. UH held off two Ramblin' Wreck game-points before a block by Kele Eveland and Alexandra Preiss gave Georgia Tech a 34-32 game one victory.
Hawai`i came out determined in the second game, jumping out to a 9-4 advantage. But game two turned out to be another scorcher as Georgia Tech came right back with a 5-1 run to get it down to 11-10. It stayed tight from then on, as neither team took a lead of more than three points for the rest of the game. The Yellow Jackets got to two game-points at 29-28 and 30-29 on kills by Lynnette Moster, but Willoughby had two answers to keep UH in the game. Lauren Sauer got Georgia Tech to their third game-point at 31-30, but Willoughby again had the answer, putting away her 10th kill of the game to tie it at 31-31. Kahumoku then pulled through for the Rainbow Wahine, putting away two-straight kills to give UH the 33-31 win in game two.
The Rainbow Wahine kept it rolling at the start of the third game, taking a big 15-9 lead at the media timeout. But the Yellow Jackets would not go away, pulling within two points at 19-17, forcing a Hawai`i timeout. UH came out of the break and started to pull away, taking leads of 25-21 and 27-22 before a block solo by Willoughby put away game three, 30-24.
Game four started out neck-and-neck with the teams reaching their seventh tie of the game at 9-9. Willoughby put away consecutive kills to start a 6-2 run, putting UH up 15-11 at the media timeout. The Rainbow Wahine kept their lead at 17-13 before Eveland served the Yellow Jackets to a five-point run to take the lead back at 18-17. Tech got their advantage to 21-19 before Kamana`o again scored on her serve, running off four-straight points to put UH up 23-21. The game would stay tight with the Rainbow Wahine holding a slight lead at 25-24 until Hawai`i went on their final run, reeling off a 5-1 run to take the fourth game, 30-25.
The Rainbow Wahine will leave for Dallas on Monday night, before playing No. 3 Florida on Thursday, Dec. 18. The other national semifinal will pit top-ranked USC and No. 13 Minnesota. Match times will be set tomorrow by the NCAA.
All-Region Team
Lynnette Moster, Georgia Tech
Kanoe Kamana`o, Hawai`i
Alexandra Preiss, Georgia Tech
Lily Kahumoku, Hawai`i
Kele Eveland, Georgia Tech
Kim Willoughby, Hawai`i (Most Outstanding Player)
Match Statistics
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