Box Score

HONOLULU – The fourth-ranked University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team opened the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic with a 25-21, 25-23, 19-25, 25-15 victory over No. 19 Saint Louis Thursday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

 

UH improves to 4-0 on the season and beat its third ranked team in a row in front of 5,566 fans. Saint Louis falls to 2-2 overall. The classic will take a day off on Friday and return to action Saturday night. UH faces No. 2 Texas at 7 p.m. Saturday and Saint Louis will face No. 10 California at 5 p.m.

 

Offensively, UH was led by Kanani Danielson and Aneli Cubi-Otineru, who each posted double-doubles and hit over .300. Danielson had a match-high 19 kills, hit .361 and had 10 kills for the match. Cubi-Otineru added 16 kills, hit .324 and had 13 kills.

 

Dani Mafua led the balanced attack, recording 51 assists and adding 10 digs. Stephanie Ferrell had nine kills, Amber Kaufman had seven kills and Brittany Hewitt added five. As a team, UH recorded 11.5 blocks, including seven blocks by Kaufman.

 

In the first set, UH jumped out to a 5-0 lead to start the match, and carried the momentum into a 25-21 victory. The Rainbow Wahine had a balanced attack, with Ferrell leading the way with five kills. Danielson had four kills and Kaufman and Cubi-Otineru each had three kills. Mafua set the UH offense to a .343 hitting percentage, while the defense held Saint Louis to a .182 hitting mark.

 

Both teams played a tight second set, going back-and-forth until the final few points, when UH pulled out the 25-23 win. Danielson and Cubi-Otineru each had six kills in the set, as UH hit .286. The UH defense had three blocks and 17 digs.

 

The Billikens bounced back in the third set, taking an early lead and holding on for a 25-19 win. Cubi-Otineru led the way with four kills and Danielson added three kills. The Rainbow Wahine only hit .107 in the set, but recorded 4.5 blocks.

 

UH jumped out to an early 11-3 lead in the fourth set and never looked back, cruising to a 25-15 victory. Danielson had six kills in the set, while Ferrell and Cubi-Otineru added three kills each. UH hit .424 in the set, including 15 kills and one error.

 

 

No. 2 Texas dropped the first set of the match against No. 10 California, but came back to take the next three, winning 21-25, 25-20, 25-16, 25-13. Texas improves to 3-0 on the year and 1-0 in the classic. California falls to 2-2 and 0-1 in the classic.

 

The Longhorns were led by Destinee Hooker, who had a match-high 17 kills and added nine digs and five blocks. Juliann Faucette had 15 kills and Ashley Engle added 12 kills. As a team Texas recorded 20 blocks.

 

California was led by Hana Cutura, who had 16 kills and five blocks. Tarah Murrey added 12 kills and Cal as a team had 10 blocks.