Box Score Box Score

HONOLULU - The No. 11 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (29-5) came back from down two games to one to beat the No. 6 Southern California Women of Troy (27-5) 28-30, 30-21, 21-30, 30-27 and 15-5 in front of a crowd of 7,479 in the NCAA Regional Semifinal match at the Stan Sheriff Center Friday. Hawai`i will now face UCLA, who swept through Oklahoma in the other regional semifinal match, with a trip to the NCAA Championships on the line.

Jamie Houston put up a career-high 35 kills, including seven in the fifth game alone, with 16 digs, five blocks and a .397 hitting percentage to lead the way for UH. Sarah Mason recorded her first career 20-20 match, posting 24 kills and 22 digs while hitting .321. Juliana Sanders tied the school rally-scoring record for blocks in a match, posting 14 blocks and eight kills while Kari Gregory hit .500 with six kills and five blocks. Kanoe Kamana`o set the UH offense to a .304 hitting percentage while posting 65 assists, eight digs and four blocks. Jayme Lee also played well, coming up with 18 digs on the night.

Hawai`i started out the first game slow as a 9-0 run by USC put the Women of Troy up 10-2 right away. USC got it to 15-4 before UH started to get back into it. A 7-1 run by the Rainbow Wahine cut it back to 18-14, only to see USC come right back with a 6-1 run, extending their lead to 25-17. Down 27-20, Hawai`i made a big run, scoring eight of the next nine, tying the score at 28-28. But the Women of Troy had a couple points left in them as Jessica Gysin and Diane Copenhagen put away back-to-back kills, taking game one 30-28.

The Rainbow Wahine kept their momentum rolling at the start of game two, going ahead 5-2 on two-straight kills by Houston. USC battled to stay within a two-point deficit, only to see Hawai`i take a 5-1 run to a 14-8 edge. The Rainbow Wahine got their lead to 24-16, but the Women of Troy came right back to pull it back to 25-20. That was when UH made their push, scoring five of the last six points in the game, ending it 30-21 on back-to-back blocks.

After the Rainbow Wahine opened a 4-2 lead to start game three, USC stormed back, scoring 12 of the next 15 points to take a commanding 14-7 advantage. UH fought back to cut it back to 16-11, only to see the Women of Troy bump their lead to 23-12 on a 7-1 run. Hawai`i made a push to get back into it at 25-18, but didn't have enough, falling 30-21.

Game four proved to be the biggest battle of the match, as the game saw 11 ties and four lead changes. Hawai`i went ahead early as kills by Kamana`o, Gregory and Houston put them up 4-1. But USC had the answer, taking a 6-1 run to hold a 7-5 edge. A couple kills by Houston tied it at seven, with the Women of Troy scoring four of the next five to go up 11-8 and force a timeout by Dave Shoji. The two teams battled, with lead not getting higher than three points the rest of the way. An ace by Lee gave UH a 22-19 lead after a 10-4 run, only to see a four-point run by USC give them back the lead at 23-22, forcing another Shoji timeout. But Hawai`i came out of the timeout with a new sense of urgency, as a solo block by Kamana`o capped a 4-1 run to put UH ahead 26-24. A big block by Kaufman and Sanders got UH to game point at 29-26 before Houston's 28th kill of the night ended it 30-27.

Asia Kaczor, who ended the match with a team-high 22 kills, put away two to start game five, only to see a couple Houston kills and a USC hitting error put Hawai`i ahead 3-2. Kaczor put away another kill to tie it at three. Houston put away a kill to get Kamana`o to the service line. From there, Kamana`o served 11-straight points, getting Hawai`i to a 14-3 advantage. USC was able to score two points before Houston put away her 35th kill to end the game 15-5.

UH will face UCLA tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center. The match will be aired live on ESPNU. Tickets were still available at press time and can be purchased online at hawaiiathletics.com.

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