Box Score Box Score
HONOLULU - The No. 10 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team fell in their season-opener to the Michigan Wolverines 14-30, 28-30, 30-22, 30-27 and 16-18 in front of a crowd of 7,343 in the ASICS Rainbow Wahine Invitational Friday.
Tara Hittle led UH with 17 kills and 17 digs while Aneli Cubi-Otineru added 16 kills and 15 digs off the bench. Kari Gregory added eight kills, eight blocks and a .533 hitting percentage with Juliana Sanders hitting .314 with 14 kills and six blocks. Stephanie Brandt had 39 assists, 10 digs, five blocks and four kills.
The Rainbow Wahine came out slow in the first game, allowing a six-point run to fall behind 14-6. Michigan got their lead to 22-9 and 28-13 before eventually taking the lopsided 30-14 win in game one.
Hawai`i came firing back in the second game, taking the early lead and holding it to 15-11 on a kill by Cubi-Otineru. A block by Sanders and Dani Mafua put UH ahead 25-22, before a 5-1 UM run gave the Wolverines their first lead of the game at 27-26. The two teams sided out the rest of the way with an attack error by Jamie Houston ending the game 30-28.
The Rainbow Wahine turned it around in game three, going ahead 5-1. UH led all the way through, taking it 30-22.
Hawai`i led early on in the fourth game, holding the lead from 5-4 to 20-16. But UM caught fire at that point, scoring nine of the next 11 points to go ahead 27-23. But just when it looked like the Rainbow Wahine were about done, Brandt served a 7-0 run, giving UH the 30-27 game four win.
Game five was a back-and-forth battle as neither team held an advantage of more than two points. Hawai`i got to match point first on a kill by Amber Kaufman at 14-12. But Michigan scored the next three points, all on kills by Lyndsay Miller, to get the Wolverines to their first match point. HIttle and Cubi-Otineru had kills to hold off two match points, but Miller put away a kill before a Cubi-Otineru hitting error ended the match with an 18-16 game five loss.
The Rainbow Wahine will next host Colorado State at 7 p.m., following the 5 p.m. match between Oregon State and Michigan. The Beavers defeated the Rams earlier in the invitational, winning a thrilling five-gamer.
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