Box Score

PALO ALTO, Calif. – The third-ranked University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team rallied from one set down to beat No. 8 Illinois, 21-25, 25-10, 27-25, 25-16 Friday night in the NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinal at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, Calif.

 

The Rainbow Wahine, the No. 12 seed in the tournament, earned their second straight berth into a Regional Final with the win over No. 5 seed Illinois, improving to 31-2 on the season. UH will be making its 18^th overall appearance in a Regional Final and will face No. 16 (No. 13 seed) Michigan at 8:30 p.m. PT (6:30 p.m. HT) on ESPNU Saturday night.

 

For the second straight season, UH beat a Big-10 opponent in the Regional Semifinal to reach the Regional Final.

 

On Friday night, sophomore Stephanie Ferrell had a career night, recording 19 kills and hit .412, adding three blocks.

 

Sophomore Kanani Danielson had a match-high 21 kills and added 13 digs and four blocks and Aneli Cubi-Otineru had 12 kills and nine digs. Cubi-Otineru became just the second player in UH history to record 1,000 kills in her career in just three years. Cubi-Otineru now has 1,010 career kills.

 

Freshman Brittany Hewitt had six kills and seven blocks, Dani Mafua set the offense with 51 assists and added 11 digs and Elizabeth Ka'aihue had 19 digs.

 

In the first set, the Rainbow Wahine fell behind early, 6-1, before making a rally in the middle of the set to take a 15-14 lead. Illinois came back with its own rally, taking a 20-17 lead, going on to a 25-21 victory. Ferrell led the way for UH with seven kills, hitting .600 for the set. Danielson had two kills and Hewitt had three blocks. Overall UH had four team blocks.

 

UH bounced back in the second set and jumped in front 6-0, and carried the momentum to an 11-4 lead. The Rainbow Wahine kept the lead and won 25-10 to tie the match 1-1. Danielson, Ferrell and Cubi-Otineru led the offense with four kills each as UH hit .321 for the set. The UH defense had three blocks and held Illinois to a .000 hitting percentage.

 

The Rainbow Wahine and Fighting Illini went back-and-forth in the third set, trading sideouts, as neither team had more than a three-point lead. UH rallied from 23-24 down, to win the set, 27-25. Danielson had seven kills in the set, while Ferrell had five kills and Hewitt had four kills. Cubi-Otineru had three kills, including the set-winner.

 

UH carried the momentum from the third set into the fourth set, jumping in front 8-2 and riding the lead to a 25-16 victory. Danielson had eight kills in the set and Cubi-Otineru added five kills. UH hit .424 in the set.