Box Score Box Score

HONOLULU - The No. 11 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (17-4, 11-0 WAC) had a season-high 17.5 blocks as they swept through the No. 13 New Mexico State Aggies (19-4, 10-2) 30-26, 30-28 and 30-22 in front of a season-high crowd of 7,538 at the Stan Sheriff Center Friday.

Jamie Houston posted 19 kills, nine digs and six blocks while hitting .472 to lead the way for the Rainbow Wahine. Juliana Sanders added a match-high nine blocks and seven kills with a .462 hitting percentage, while Amber Kaufman had seven kills and seven blocks. Tara Hittle put up seven kills, nine digs and five blocks while Stephanie Brandt had 37 assists, 13 digs, a season-high six blocks and two aces. Elizabeth Ka`aihue also chimed in 10 digs to help the UH floor defense.

Hawai`i opened a 7-2 advantage to start the match on the strength of three blocks by Sanders. The Rainbow Wahine were able to keep that cushion to 17-12, then extended their lead to 22-13 with a 5-1 run. NMSU used a 8-2 run late in the game to cut within two at 28-26. But a kill by Houston and an Aggie error finished off game one, 30-26.

After the teams traded little runs at the start of game two, UH built up a slight 14-11 edge. But the Aggies responded by scoring the next four points, taking a 15-14 lead into the media timeout. But Hawai`i came back with a 4-0 run of their own to go up 18-15 and force NMSU coach Mike Jordan to call a timeout. UH stayed ahead until a 5-1 Aggie run late in the game tied the score at 28-28, forcing Dave Shoji to call a timeout. After the break, Aggie Kim Oguh served into the net and Kaufman put away a big kill on the slide, ending game two 30-28.

Game three started off tight as there were eight ties between 3-3 and 10-10. But Hawai`i got on a roll on the serve of Brandt, running off nine-straight points to go ahead 18-10. NMSU went on a six-point run to cut it back to 20-18, but that was as close as they'd get as UH scored five of the last six points in the match, taking game three 30-22.

The Rainbow Wahine will next host Louisiana Tech at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 28. The match will be preceded by the alumnae match at 3 p.m.

-UH-