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HONOLULU - Ending the match on three-straight blocks by Juliana Sanders and Susie Boogaard in the fifth game, the No. 9 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (21-6, 15-0 WAC) held on to defeat the New Mexico State Aggies (19-6, 11-5) 30-19, 30-26, 25-30, 24-30 and 15-12 in front of a crowd of 7,008 at the Stan Sheriff Center Thursday.

Jamie Houston led the way with a career-high 25 kills. Tara Hittle had a double-double with 17 kills and 15 digs while hitting .385. Sanders had a career-high nine blocks while Boogaard added eight blocks and 14 digs.

Hawai`i opened game one with a 11-5 edge before four-straight Aggie points got them back into it at 12-10. UH then went on a big run, scoring 11 of the next 13 points to hold a decisive 23-12 lead. NMSU put together a late three-point run before a kill by Victoria Prince and a block by Sanders and Kanoe Kamana`o ended it at 30-19.

The Rainbow Wahine again looked dominant at the start of game two, taking a 9-3 lead on the strength of four early kills by Houston. A kill by Hittle got it to 23-14 before the Aggies made their run. NMSU scored the next six points to get within three. They got within two at 27-25 before Hawai`i made their final push, scoring three of the next four points, ending the game at 30-26 on a kill by Houston.

The Aggies came out of the break fired up, taking a 9-3 lead to start the third. Prince served up an ace to cap a 8-3 run that cut it to 12-11 before NMSU scored four-straight to get their lead back up to 16-11. UH trailed for the rest of the game, but were able to cut it to 26-24 after two-straight NMSU hitting errors. But the Aggies regrouped after a timeout and scored four of the next five points to win game three 30-25. It was the first WAC game UH had lost at home all season.

Game four started out tight with NMSU forcing the fourth tie of the game at 10-10. But after tying it up, the Aggies started to run and never looked back, holding a two to six point edge the rest of the way. A quick three-point run by UH cut the deficit to 24-22. But NMSU would end the game on a 6-2 run, taking it 30-24 to force a fifth game.

Hawai`i got out to an early 7-3 lead to start game five, only to see NMSU go on a 3-0 run, pulling it back to 7-6. The Aggies later put together a four-point run that gave them their first lead of the game at 11-10. On the ropes at 12-11, the Rainbow Wahine finally responded. Sanders put away a kill to tie it at 12-12 before she and Boogaard combined for three double-blocks in a row, taking the game 15-12.

The win pushed UH's WAC winning streak to 106 matches and was the program's 900th win all-time. Hawai`i will now host Louisiana Tech tomorrow at 7 p.m. on senior night. Seniors Boogaard, Prince and Ashley Watanabe will be honored following the match.

Match Statistics

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