Box Score Box Score
HONOLULU - The No. 16 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine (2-2, 1-0 HAL) defeated the Louisville Cardinals (3-2, 0-2) 31-29, 30-28, 28-30 and 30-24 in front of a crowd of 6,083 in the 20th Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic Sunday, setting up another classic championship match against UCLA tomorrow.
Jamie Houston posted 26 kills, 17 digs and three blocks, while hitting .333, to lead Hawai`i. Elizabeth Ka`aihue had a career-high 31 digs, becoming the first Rainbow Wahine player to post 30-plus digs in a match since Kanoe Kamana`o had 30 vs. Pepperdine on Sept. 25, 2004. Tara Hittle added 17 kills, 12 digs and three blocks while Aneli Cubi-Otineru hit .355 with 13 kills, 11 digs, three aces and three blocks. Juliana Sanders (11 kills, four blocks) and Kari Gregory (six kills, seven digs, four blocks) led UH's blocking effort while Stephanie Brandt had a season-high 64 assists.
Louisville used an early 4-1 run to get ahead 9-6 in the first game, only to see a four-point run by the Rainbow Wahine put them ahead 10-9. It stayed close with the Cardinals holding a slight 15-14 edge at the media timeout. UL scored the next three points out of the break to get ahead 18-14. Louisville kept that four-point lead at 26-22, but UH responded with a 5-2 run, cutting it to 28-27. The Cardinals got to game point at 29-27. But Hawai`i fought back, scoring the final four points on the game, capped by a big block by Gregory and Cubi-Otineru, their second of the run, giving UH the 31-29 game one victory.
The Rainbow Wahine came out firing in the second game, taking a 7-3 lead to force an early UL timeout. UH got the margin to five points until a big 6-2 run by the Cardinals cut it back to 20-19. It stayed tight the rest of the way with a Hittle kill ending game two, 30-28.
An early 9-3 run by Louisville put them ahead 13-8 to start game three. But the Rainbow Wahine responded by scoring the next four points to get within a point at 13-12. UH would tie it at 16-16, only to see a three-point UL run put the Cardinals ahead 19-16. Hawai`i used a 4-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 24-23. But Louisville wouldn't go away, scoring six of the next seven points to get to game point at 29-25. UH was able to fight off three game points before a kill by Svetlana Dukule put it away, 30-28.
Game four started out tight as neither team took a lead of more than two points with the Rainbow Wahine holding a slight 15-14 edge at the media timeout. After giving up a couple points, UH went on a 5-1 run to take their biggest lead of the game, to that point, at 20-17. Hawai`i never relinquished the lead again from that point, as kills by Houston accounted for four of the last five UH points, including the match-winner, giving them the 30-24 victory.
The Rainbow Wahine will face No. 5 UCLA tomorrow at 5 p.m. in the Wahine Classic championship match at the Stan Sheriff Center. It will mark the 15th time in the 20 years of the classic that UH and UCLA will play for the classic title.
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