Box Score HONOLULU - No. 7 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (2-0) held on to defeat the No. 19 Pepperdine Waves (0-2) 30-28, 30-26, 25-30, 23-30 and 21-19 in front of a crowd of 7,867 at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Jamie Houston led all players with 28 kills and 13 digs. Kari Gregory had 11 blocks and nine kills with a .350 hitting percentage. Tara Hittle added 15 kills and 17 digs while Kanoe Kamana`o had 61 assists and 15 digs. Jessica Keefe had a great all-around match with seven kills, seven digs and seven blocks while libero Jayme Lee had 16 digs and three aces.
The first game started just as the previous match had gone, back and forth. After Hawai`i held a 7-4 lead, no team would get their lead above a point until a four-point Pepperdine run gave the Waves a 25-21 advantage. The Rainbow Wahine were constantly playing catch-up, making their final push down 28-27, when two kills by Houston and a block by Gregory and Keefe ended the game 30-28.
Hawai`i came out hot in game two, with a quick 4-0 run pushing them to a 12-7 edge. The lead would get as high as 17-10 and 23-16 before the Waves made their run. Pepperdine ran off eight of the nine points to pull to a tie at 24-24. But Kamana`o would serve the Rainbow Wahine to victory, giving UH a 5-0 run to get them to game point at 29-24. Pepperdine fought off two game points before a kill by Keefe gave the 'Bows a 30-26 victory in game two.
The Rainbow Wahine looked primed to close out the match in the third game, taking leads at 13-12 and 23-22. But Pepperdine reeled off five of the next six points to take control of the game at 27-24. After UH scored a point to get back within two, the Waves ran off the last three points, taking game three 30-25.
Pepperdine dominated the fourth game from the very beginning, forcing a early timeout by UH Head Coach Dave Shoji at 8-3. Hawai`i was only able to get within three points on a couple occasions before the Waves ran away with game four, 30-23.
Game five proved to be one of the most entertaining games in recent UH history. After the Rainbow Wahine went up 4-2, Pepperdine quickly came back to take a 5-4 lead that started a back-and-forth game. Hittle put away back-to-back kills to give Hawai`i a 8-7 edge at the media timeout. Down 12-10, Pepperdine called a timeout that led to two-straight points to tie it back up at 12-12. Hawai`i got to match point first at 14-13 on a kill by Hittle, only to see the Waves fight it off and get to their own match point at 15-14 on a kill by Sophia Milo, forcing another UH timeout. The Rainbow Wahine would fight off that match point, then fight off four more including a kill by Gregory to tie it up at 19-19. A ball handling error gave UH their second match point and they would take advantage of it as Keefe and Gregory combined for their seventh and 11th block, respectively, to end the game at 21-19, also ending the exciting weekend with the Waves.
In the process of the weekend, Shoji picked up career wins No. 898 and 899, putting him one shy of the 900-win milestone. Shoji will go for the milestone in the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic next week, when the Rainbow Wahine host No. 5 Florida, Colorado and No. 10 UCLA. The tournament will start with the Colorado-UCLA match at 4:30 p.m. and Hawai`i-Florida at 7 p.m. on Sept. 1.
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