Box Score

HONOLULU – The No. 6 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (26-3) won its ninth-straight WAC Tournament title, defeating the New Mexico State Aggies (23-8) 25-19, 25-27, 25-18 and 25-9 in front of a crowd of 5,250 in the Western Athletic Conference tournament championship match at the Stan Sheriff Center Sunday.

 

Jamie Houston took tournament MVP honors, hitting .341 with 22 kills, 11 digs and three blocks. Aneli Cubi-Otineru hit .333 with 12 kills, 10 digs and four blocks while Kanani Danielson chimed in nine kills, nine digs and three blocks (including two solo blocks). Tara Hittle had a match-high 16 digs while Stephanie Brandt posted 45 assists and six digs.

 

After spotting NMSU a 2-1 edge to start the first set, Hawai`i scored four of the next five points to get their advantage to 5-3. A 6-2 run later in the set put the Rainbow Wahine ahead 15-10. Another 4-1 UH run got the Rainbow Wahine their largest lead at 21-14. The Aggies answered, scoring three-straight points to cut it back to 21-17. But it wasn't enough as Houston's sixth kill of the set capped a 3-1 run to end it 25-19.

 

Hawai`i took control of the second set early on, jumping out to leads of 4-0 and 6-1. UH got it up to 11-5 before a 10-1 NMSU run got the Aggies the lead at 15-12. New Mexico State kept that lead until a 4-1 UH run tied the score at 20-20. The two teams then traded sideouts until a kill by Houston and a block by Danielson got the Rainbow Wahine set point at 25-24. NMSU had one last response though, scoring the last three points to take the second set 27-25.

 

New Mexico State jumped out to a 6-2 lead to start the third before Cubi-Otineru served a 3-0 UH run, cutting it back to 6-5. NMSU continued to hold a slight lead until a quick 6-1 run that was started by consecutive Houston kills put UH ahead 20-16. Hawai`i kept the momentum, scoring the last three points to take the third set 25-18.

 

The Rainbow Wahine then carried it over to the fourth, taking an early 10-1 advantage to start. UH got its lead as high as 15-3 before a small 4-1 NMSU run got it back to 16-7. But Hawai`i would not let up, scoring nine of the last 11 points to close out the 25-9 victory in the fourth set.

 

With the win, Hawai`i earns the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, starting the Dec. 4-6 weekend. Before the NCAAs, UH will host Cal Poly for two matches on Nov. 26 and 28, both at 7 p.m.