Box Score Box Score

HONOLULU - The No. 11 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (10-6, 4-0 WAC) swept the Fresno State Bulldogs (3-12, 1-4) 30-23, 30-17 and 30-17 in front of a crowd of 6,828 at the Stan Sheriff Center Friday.

Sarah Mason continued her great play in the WAC, putting away 13 kills and five digs while hitting .333 in just two games. Kanoe Kamana`o came up with 39 assists, 12 digs, five blocks and three kills. Victoria Prince added seven kills, three blocks and two aces while hitting .462.

The Rainbow Wahine started the match very slow, allowing Fresno State to go up 6-0 in game one. But UH rallied back as Mason put away six kills in a 13-6 run that gave Hawai`i their first lead at 13-12. But the Bulldogs kept fighting. They were down just 22-21 before the big Rainbow Wahine run finally hit as they scored eight of the final 10 points, taking game one 30-23 on a kill by Prince.

Fresno State again opened a quick lead to start game two, going up 3-0 on the strength of two aces by Alisha McKee. UH answered right back, reeling off three points in a row, tying it at 3-3. The two teams traded points for a while until a big 5-1 run, started by consecutive kills by Kamana`o, gave the Rainbow Wahine a 15-10 lead at the media timeout. Hawai`i kept that five-point edge at 20-15 before they scored six-straight, capped by an ace by Cayley Thurlby, pushing the advantage to 26-15. UH ended up outhitting the Bulldogs .371 to -.043 in the game, taking it 30-17.

Head Coach Dave Shoji put in six new starters for the third game, with Kamana`o the only remaining starter from the first two games. Jamie Houston (five kills, four blocks), Nickie Thomas (three kills, four blocks) and Kari Gregory (four kills, three blocks) all took advantage with good games. Unlike the first two games, UH opened up well, taking an 8-3 advantage. The Rainbow Wahine continued to dominate, getting it to 19-8 and 29-15 before eventually taking it 30-17. Hawai`i finished with eight blocks in game three alone.

The Rainbow Wahine will host WAC-nemisis Nevada tomorrow at the Stan Sheriff Center at 7 p.m. The Wolf Pack have a perfect 5-0 record in conference and took UH to five games in the two regular season meetings in 2004.

Match Statistics

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