Rainbows sweep to 14th WAC regular-season title in home finale
Advertiser Staff
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In one last home bash, third-ranked Hawai‘i swept Utah State tonight, clinched its 14th Western Athletic Conference regular-season title in as many years of membership and extended its volleyball winning streak to 19.
The scores were 25-11, 25-12, 25-21 before a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 6,087.
For an encore, the Rainbow Wahine (23-2, 13-0 WAC) celebrated the careers of Aneli Cubi-Otineru, Amber Kaufman, Stephanie Brandt, Jayme Lee and Catherine Fowler on their Senior Night.
Cubi-Otineru and sophomore All-American Kanani Danielson led Hawai‘i with 13 kills apiece, while Kaufman had 10. Danielson added 14 digs and freshman Brittany Hewitt had three of UH’s five blocks.
Hawai‘i will be the top seed in the WAC Tournament, which begins Nov. 23 in Las Vegas. Utah State (14-13, 5-9) is seventh with two matches remaining. The top six go to the tournament this year.
USU struggled with everything but its blocking all night. Its passing was especially poor, with Hawai‘i collecting four aces and the Aggies hitting zero (four kills, four errors) in the opening set.
Cubi-Otineru had six kills in nine swings that set, while UH Hewitt and Kaufman had four apiece.
By the end of the second set, every Rainbow had at least 10 attacks and five kills, with left-side hitters Cubi-Otineru (10 kills) and Danielson (8) a remarkable 18-for-29 without an error (.621).
In contrast, the Aggies had just 12 kills and were led by Liz McArthur with four. She pulled into positive hitting numbers just five points before the end of the second set.
Three Rainbow Wahine reserves started the final set, and pulled ahead for good on a 7-0 surge with Cubi-Otineru serving. Fowler tied her career high with three kills.
Hawai‘i ends the regular season on the road, at Boise State Thursday, Idaho Saturday and Utah State next Monday.