LOS ANGELES — The No. 6 University of Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (30-3) swept through the No. 12 Southern California Women of Troy (17-12) 25-21, 25-18 and 25-22 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Galen
LOS ANGELES — The No. 6 University of Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (30-3) swept through the No. 12 Southern California Women of Troy (17-12) 25-21, 25-18 and 25-22 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Galen Center yesterday, advancing to their 10th regional in the last 11 years.
Amber Kaufman had a huge match, hitting a career-high .714 with 10 kills and two blocks. Kanani Danielson had a double-double, hitting .310 with 13 kills and 15 digs, while Jamie Houston led all players with 17 kills, while hitting .333 with eight digs and two aces. Dani Mafua set the high-powered Hawai‘i attack that hit .307 on the night, posting 43 assists, eight digs and three aces.
Southern California opened a 3-1 lead to start the first set, only to see Aneli Cubi-Otineru serve a three-point run, giving Hawai‘i a 4-3 edge. The teams later traded a couple more 3-0 runs before a 6-1 Hawai‘i run put the Rainbow Wahine ahead 13-10, forcing USC Head Coach Mick Haley to use a timeout.
Hawai‘i kept the slight lead until a big 5-1 Trojan run gave USC the lead at 21-20. But Hawai‘i had the answer, scoring the next five points to take the first set 25-21.
After giving USC the first two points in the second set, Kaufman served Hawai‘ on a 4-0 run, pushing the Rainbow Wahine ahead 4-2. The Women of Troy tied it at 4-4 before a huge 5-1 run by Hawai‘i got the Wahine the 9-5 edge.
Hawai‘i continued to pound away, getting its lead to 19-13 before two Mafua aces capped a 5-1 run to get the Rainbow Wahine set point at 24-16. USC fought off two points before Cubi-Otineru put away a kill to close out the second set 25-18.
Hawai‘i jumped to an early 3-1 edge before USC responded with two points, tying it at 3-3. The two teams then started to trade big blows, with 14 sideouts following to get it tied at 10-10.
Danielson then took over, posting two kills before putting up a big dig that got led to a USC hitting error, putting Hawai‘i ahead 13-10. The Rainbow Wahine kept that three-point lead at 15-12 until a big 4-0 Women of Troy run put USC ahead 16-15. Hawai‘i had the answer, scoring six of the next eight points to go ahead 21-18. USC kept fighting, but it wasn’t enough as UH closed it out with a 25-22 win in the third.
The Rainbow Wahine advance to their 23rd NCAA Regional with the win and will face No. 10 seed Purdue in the regional semifinals in Ft. Collins, Colo., on Friday.
