Box Score Box Score

HONOLULU - In Head Coach Dave Shoji's 1,000th career match, the No. 6 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine (10-0) defeated the Pepperdine Waves (2-7) 30-17, 27-30, 30-25 and 30-23 in front of a season-high crowd of 8,656 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Fittingly, the Rainbow Wahine won it with defense, Shoji's trademark, putting up a school rally-scoring record for team digs (119). Kanoe Kamana`o broke the rally-scoring record for digs in a four-game match (30), while tying Teee Williams' 16-year-old overall school record for digs in a four game match. Victoria Prince also got her name in the record book, tying the school record for blocks in a four-game match during the rally-scoring era (nine).

Along with her record digging performance, Kamana`o also had 62 assists, four blocks and five kills on just six swings (.833 hitting percentage). Susie Boogaard also came up big with 23 kills and 20 digs while Alicia Arnott put up 19 kills and a career-high 26 digs. Ashley Watanabe also had a big night in the back row with 21 digs while freshman Tara Hittle continued to impress with 13 kills and a .406 hitting percentage. Prince finished the night with eight kills and three aces to go with her nine blocks.

The Rainbow Wahine looked inspired to start the first game, jumping out to leads of 10-5 and 13-7 to force an early Pepperdine timeout. But Hawai`i continued to dominate getting their lead up to 23-10 before taking game one 30-17 on a service ace by Boogaard.

The Waves fought back in the second game, opening with a 7-3 lead. UH then roared back as Arnott came up with a diving save then a big back row kill to end a long rally and cut the deficit to 9-8. The teams would then trade points, keeping it close before a quick four-point Pepperdine run gave them a 23-18 lead. The Waves kept it going, taking the second game 30-27 on a dump by setter Melissa Mehlhorn.

The Waves' momentum rolled on to start the second game as they went up 13-10 early. But UH came back scoring five of the next six points, taking a 15-14 lead into the media timeout. UH continued to hold a slight lead the rest of the way as a block by Arnott and Sanders put it away, 30-25.

The fourth game started out close again until Hittle went on a big run, putting away three-straight points on two huge kills and a block, giving UH a 12-8 advantage. Hawai`i then just kept pushing towards victory as they never let the Waves within two points again, winning game four by the final of 30-23.

The Rainbow Wahine gave Shoji his 850th win in his 1,000th match, pushing his winning percentage to .851 (850-149-1), the highest amongst active coaches.

Hawai`i will now start WAC play as they go on the road to face Fresno State and Nevada on Sept. 30 and Oct. 2. Both matches will be at 7 p.m. The match at Fresno State has been moved to the Save Mart Center, the Bulldogs' 16,116-seat arena.

match statistics

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