Box Score Box Score

RENO, Nev. - The No. 11 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (18-4, 12-0 WAC) swept the Nevada Wolf Pack (13-8, 9-4) 30-17, 30-20 and 30-27 in front of a crowd of 963 at the Virginia Street Gym Thursday.

Jamie Houston led the way for UH with 21 kills and eight digs while hitting .410. Aneli Cubi-Otineru added 11 kills, eight digs and four blocks with a .333 hitting percentage while Juliana Sanders hit .333 with six kills and five blocks. Tara Hittle came back from a rough start to post nine kills and 12 digs, while Stephanie Brandt had 38 assists and 11 digs. Elizabeth Ka`aihue added a match-high 14 digs.

Nevada opened the first game hot, taking a 3-0 lead. Hawai`i battled back with a three-point run of their own to take a 5-4 edge. UH kept a slight lead before another three-point spurt pushed the deficit to 17-12. Back-to-back aces by Brandt highlighted a 10-1 run by UH to 27-15 before they finished game one with a 30-17 victory. Houston was on fire for most of the game, hitting .600 with seven kills.

The Rainbow Wahine broke a back-and-forth start to game two by running of eight of the next 10 points to take a 14-8 advantage. The Wolf Pack rallied back with a 8-2 run of their own, tying the score at 16-16. Hawai`i again got hot down the stretch, using a 9-1 run to go ahead 25-17 before taking game two 30-20.

The Wolf Pack held a slight edge for a lot of the first half of the third game until a big five-point run on Brandt's serve put UH ahead 23-20. Nevada ran off three points of their own to tie it at 23-23 and battled to three more ties before a late run by the Rainbow Wahine put game three away 30-27.

Hawai`i has a quick turnaround, flying down to Fresno, Calif., to face Fresno State tomorrow, before heading back to Honolulu for the final two WAC matches of the year.

-UH-