Box Score Box Score

HONOLULU - The No. 7 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (2-1) fell to the No. 5 Florida Gators (3-0) 20-30, 26-30 and 23-30 in front of a crowd of 8,138 on the first day of the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic at the Stan Sheriff Center Friday. The loss keeps UH Head Coach Dave Shoji at 899 career victories, as he'll go for No. 900 tomorrow against Colorado.

Tara Hittle led the Rainbow Wahine with a 12 kills and 14 digs. Jamie Houston added 16 kills and seven digs while Jayme Lee posted 16 digs. Kanoe Kamana`o passed out 32 assists, while adding five digs, four kills and a .800 hitting percentage. Kari Gregory led UH with six blocks.

Hawai`i started the first game with a 3-1 edge, only to see Florida reel off five-straight points to go up 6-3. UH cut it back to a point at 11-10 before the Gators made their run. UF scored 11 of the next 13 points to hold a commanding 22-12 lead. The Rainbow Wahine showed some fight with a quick 3-0 run, but it wasn't enough as Florida took the first game 30-20.

Game two was much more of a back-and-forth battle. Hawai`i got out to a 11-8 advantage on a block by Kamana`o and Gregory before Florida went on a 7-3 run, taking the lead at 15-14. After trading three-point runs, consecutive kills by Houston put the Rainbow Wahine ahead 20-18, forcing a timeout by Florida head coach, Mary Wise. And that got the Gators going as they ran off the next five point to take a 23-20 edge. The lead got as big as 25-21 and 27-23 before three-straight UH points cut it back to 27-26. But that was as close as Hawai`i would pull as UF closed out game two 30-26.

Florida again used a big 6-0 run early in the third game to get back from a 5-2 deficit, holding an 8-5 edge to force a UH timeout. But the Rainbow Wahine still had some battle left in them as consecutive blocks by Gregory gave the 'Bows a 15-13 lead, forcing a timeout by the Gators. But Florida again had the answer, posting two 6-1 runs late to hold a big 28-21 lead. The Rainbow Wahine were able to score a couple more points before a ball handling error ended the game, 30-23.

Earlier in the classic, Colorado fell to UCLA in three games, 30-25, 30-25 and 30-25. The Bruins will play Florida in the first match tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. HST, followed by the Hawai`i-Colorado match, scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

-UH-