LIHU‘E — The Rainbow Wahine volleyball squad has advanced to the regional finals of the 2009 NCAA women’s volleyball championship after a four-set win over the University of Illinois, Friday at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif. The team started slowly,
LIHU‘E — The Rainbow Wahine volleyball squad has advanced to the regional finals of the 2009 NCAA women’s volleyball championship after a four-set win over the University of Illinois, Friday at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif.
The team started slowly, but rallied into form to notch a 21-25, 25-10, 27-25, 25-16 win over the No. 5-seeded Illinois team.
Hawai‘i, given the No. 12 seed in the tournament, now stands at 31-2 on the season and is set to face No. 13 Michigan (27-9), which knocked off hometown Stanford, the fourth seed, in the other regional semifinal. Michigan won by a 25-18, 23-25, 25-22, 25-11 score.
That match will take place today at 6:30 p.m. HT and will be televised
on ESPNU.
In the victory over Illinois, Hawai‘i’s Kanani Danielson led the Rainbow Wahine attack with 21 kills. She also prevented numerous Illinois winners by coming up with 13 digs.
Stephanie Ferrell had 19 kills and Aneli Cubi-Otineru had 12 for Hawai‘i, which boasted 60 as a team.
Setter Dani Mafua was the playmaker, piling up 51 assists on her own, with the team compiling 57 as a unit.
Elizabeth Ka‘aihue led the team with 19 digs.
