Box Score Box Score

AUSTIN, Texas - The No. 7 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine (27-6) defeated the No. 7 Texas Longhorns (24-5) 19-30, 30-18, 30-21 and 30-20 in front of a crowd of 1,526 at Gregory Gym in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, advancing to their eighth-straight NCAA Regional.

Jamie Houston led the way, hitting .529 with 20 kills, four digs and three blocks. Sarah Mason added 15 kills, four blocks and two aces while hitting .448. Victoria Prince hit .474 with 10 kills and eight blocks while Susie Boogaard added nine kills, four blocks and a .444 hitting percentage. Kanoe Kamana`o ended the night with 54 assists, 10 digs and three blocks while Ashley Watanabe had 13 digs and one ace.

The match opened with the two teams trading sideouts until a four-point run on the serve of Watanabe put the Rainbow Wahine up 7-4. The Longhorns answered back, going on a 5-0 run of their own to take a 10-8 edge. UT used another five-point run to push their advantage to 19-12. Hawai`i momentarilly pulled it back to 22-17 on a couple of kills by Prince and a block by Houston, but it wouldn't be enough as Texas ended the game on a 8-2 run, taking the game 30-19.

Hawai`i showed some fire at the start of the second game, recording four early blocks to jump out 7-3, forcing a timeout by Texas Head Coach Jerritt Elliott. The Longhorns came out of the break with a three-point run to get within a point, but UH responded with a couple of 3-0 runs of their own, pushing it to 16-11. The Rainbow Wahine had an answer for every UT run, as they used late runs of 5-0 and 7-1 to take game two 30-18. Hawai`i had eight blocks during the game to spark the victory.

The Rainbow Wahine again jumped out early in game three, going up 6-2 on the strength of three kills by Mason. UH got it to 10-5 and 14-9 before the Longhorns put up a three-point run to cut it back to 14-12, forcing a timeout by Dave Shoji. Out of the break, Hawai`i got back into their groove, scoring seven of the next nine points to get their advantage to 21-14. Mason then deflated the hopes of the 'Horns for good, putting away a big cross-court kill that ended a long rally, to get the lead to 23-16. The Rainbow Wahine would end up hitting 514 with 21 kills in the third game, taking it 30-21.

By the time the fourth game hit, Hawai`i was firing on all cylinders. They forced Elliott to use both of his timeouts early in the game, at 6-1 and 9-2. Texas pulled within five on a couple of occasions, but never got any closer, with Houston putting away her 20th kill to end it 30-20.

Hawai`i now advances to the NCAA Regional in State College, Penn., where they will face the No. 10 seed Missouri on Friday, Dec. 9.

Match Statistics

-uh-