Box Score Box Score

HONOLULU - The No. 16 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine (14-5) swept through the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (12-6) 30-27, 30-26 and 30-27 in front of a crowd of 6,136 at the Stan Sheriff Center Monday.

Juliana Sanders led the way for UH, hitting .526 with 12 kills and four blocks. Jamie Houston posted 18 kills and 10 digs while Sarah Mason had 12 kills and eight digs. Kanoe Kamana`o had 47 assists, six digs and four blocks while Raeceen Woolford and Jayme Lee led the defensive effort with 15 and 14 digs, respectively.

The Rainbow Wahine opened a 4-1 lead early in the first game, only to see the Irish tie the game twice at 6-6 and 7-7. A left-handed kill by Mason sparked a three-point run to put UH ahead 10-7. Hawai`i never allowed Notre Dame to tie it up again, although the Rainbow Wahine also couldn't push to a comfortable lead. A three-point run gave UH their biggest lead at 27-22, and again at 28-23. But ND fought back with a 4-1 run to pull back within two at 29-27 before a kill by Sanders ended game one, 30-27.

After allowing the Irish a 4-3 lead at the start of the second game, UH went on a four-point run, taking back the lead at 7-4. Hawai`i used a 6-1 run later to go ahead 13-7, and never let Notre Dame get closer than three points for the rest of the game. The Irish was able to fight off three game points before a kill by Houston put it away, 30-26.

Notre Dame scored the first point of game three, only to see a five-point UH run on the serve of Mason make it 5-1. After two 4-0 runs by the Rainbow Wahine, UH was ahead 18-13, only to see a huge 12-4 run by the Irish flip the score at 25-22 in favor of ND. But Hawai`i came up big in the end, running off the final six points of the match, capped by Kari Gregory's second ace of the run, ending it at 30-27.

The two teams will face off again tomorrow at 6 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center before the Rainbow Wahine get a much-needed 10-day break before hosting Idaho and San Jose State on Oct. 27 and 29.

-UH-