Wahine-Titans rewind
From our breaking news site
Freshman hitter Nikki Taylor had a career-high 20 kills and senior libero Ali Longo set a school rally score record with 20 consecutive serves as No 6 Hawaii opened defense of its Big West volleyball title with a 25-22, 25-5, 25-20 victory over Cal State Fullerton tonight at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Longo served 21 straight times with her 20-0 scoring run propelling the Rainbow Wahine (12-1, 1-0 Big West) to a 23-2 lead in Set 2. Taylor hit .800 during the set, with eight kills and no errors in 10 swings.
It was the first time this season that senior All-American hitter Emily Hartong didn’t reach double-digit kills. She finished with six with 11 digs as Hawaii won its 10th straight.
Sophomore hitter Tai Manu-Olevao added 10 kills and Longo finished with 18 of the Wahine’s 54 digs. Hawaii out-blocked Titans 8-5, with junior middle Kalei Adolpho and Manu-Olevao in on six.
A crowd of 5,956 (7,390 tickets) saw the Wahine run their record to 30-0 against CSU Fullerton as well as set a program record for fewest points allowed in a single set (5) in the rally scoring era, taking 90 minutes to do so.
The Titans (7-6, 0-1) got six kills each from senior middle Leah Best, senior hitter Alyse Hensley and senior hitter Bre Moreland.
TV might be showing just how big the jumbotron is when they bring it down It reaches past the 3-meter lines on both sides. Hartong is huge on the screen.
I had typed in the stats but when they pulled the jumbotron up, the internet went with it.
here’s the link to the box.
If you want to discuss it Saturday, we can I need to go to bed. good night.
http://www.hawaiiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?id=17495&path=wvball
Another recruit in the house, 6-1 or so.
Hope Taylor comes up big on Sunday so she gets the nod for BW POW. If she keeps playing this way, Taylor is on track to becoming BW Freshman of the Year (if the BW has such an award) and could even be a nominee for AVCA Freshman of the Year.
If it’s all about IMPROVEMENT (and it is!), the frosh wins hands down this week.
Aside: I agree with those who say that Hartong needs to have an alternative to her jumper, as that combo of a jump serve and an ankle injury will wear even an AA down. Yet you can see why she’s an AA, for her defensive athleticism keeps her on court in spite of a mediocre offensive production that would send most coaches into fits. Having said that, Hartong needs her hitting percentage to IMPROVE.
Hartong and Vorster just couldn’t get going. Hopefully Sunday would be a different story. The rest of the girls did a heck of a job.Longo is amazing, how she gets to the balls.What a loss for Penn State.
Weapons, too many options tonight including Ali behind the service line. CSFU isn’t that bad, but got caught in the Bermuda Triangle of rotations in set 2 and could not sub or break out and side out of it. It was painful and glorious to watch, but from a Wahine fan’s point of view, after that you knew the match was over and that the Wahine were not going to lose. Not enough height at OH and middles weren’t getting out to close block especially against Niki. So tonight belonged to Niki and Ali (digging snd set 2) with whole team focused and contributing not to worry about Em she was part of it, too. She did her part and was not asked tonight to do more. Liked what freshmen, Tai and Sarah were able to contribute really feel things are coming together well and future is only bright right now. Go Wahine! Can’t wait to see who steps up next! {I edited and am reposting my comments to Ann’s article.}
#4 -Big West has a FOY Award
Awards
All-Conference
20.2.1
The Conference coaches shall select recipients for the All-Conference
first and freshman teams, as well as the Player of the Year, Freshman of
the Year, and Coach of the Year.
It looked like one screen on the big board had a section of LED lights that was out so I’m guessing that is why they brought down.
What the heck happened between g1 and g2???
-SARAH MENDOZA-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CpFXVEoYpA&feature=player_detailpage
Six years into the sport and is, by choice/b,s,t, making the most of vb.
Da one wildcat went from being a Prepvolleyball.com top 50 recruit to being an AA (Jr. year) and then an AA (her Sr. year in Div.II).
I like this one just being steady Eddie the whole way through.
Although Junior College wasn’t so undesignated.
LB is finally turning things around on their 2013 season. It’s been since the ^ “one wildcat” game that Hampton went out.
Haleigh Hampton is back. Being eased into things. MB3 is currently playing OPP (as OPP is out).
Perfect transformational time for the 49ers.
At some point Miley ends up at OPP, imo. Tho HH would be HUGE there.
Brian will have them ready for UH in Oct.
Po’okela/D’NaWahine again hoarding all the info. so as to run the monopoly on “knowledge”.99
Big West says they plan on introducing a new web site in 2014.No details on it but I’m pretty sure it will include a new platform for multimedia.
Some of the schools are also using antiquated live stats systems we could see all of them on the same system.
8. are you referring to the UH-CSUF game. Nothing happened between Game 1 and 2. Longo had a spectacular serving run and the Titans got stuck in a bad rotation of which UH took advantage. Longo was serving line-drive serves. Switching sides sometimes changes things. The SSC sometimes has a draft coming from that one end. Don’t know if that had any affect.
10. thanks for the update on Hampton. Hadn’t been tracking her. When I spoke with Brian G. last month he sounded someone depressed and wasn’t sure when or if Hampton would be retuning.
11. Thank you. there has been a wide variety of platforms being used. The problem lies with the varied commitment to volleyball by the schools. Personally, I don’t care for the ‘coaches’ camera view from the endzone but that’s all you’re going to get from most places. And definitely not everyone has an audio feed. Might take the Big West to find someone to do audio every place.
4. don’t know if it’s so much her ankle or now her knee. she has begun to wear one of those knee supports and definitely had it packed in ice at the potluck. I did ask how the knee was and she said fine. but she’s had a lot of wear and tear on both already season. Those 4 consecutive tournaments were hard (IMHO) on someone who goes hard every play.
She should be fine, especially if she keeps getting the help from Taylor and the rest of the offense (and defense too)
Hartong needs to take a break. i say sit her out in this next game. the Wahine can probably win without her anyway.
Folks, this is conference time. For all the top hitters in the nation, not only Hartong…they will face defenses that have been plotted for a year by opposing coaches. They have loads of film to study, lots of stats on hitters’ tendencies, and scouting reports coming out of one’s ears. Moreover, both WCC and Big West teams—the West coast mid-major conferences—have a reputation of being scrappy defensively and difficult to score upon. Yes, Big West teams did have lower RPI’s last year, but if you have been watching the teams on video or TV this season, you would realize that many of the teams like Northridge, UCSB, Cal Poly, and Long Beach State have been providing PAC 12 teams very competitive matches. They will not be easy walkovers as proved by Fullerton in the 1st and 3rd sets.
St. Mary’s beat USD…talk about going into a funk…
My favorite match td:
Saturday, Sept 21st @ Wichita, KS.
*Again, I also love witnessing the Bows in varying venues; it’s about taking the “hoopla” out into the big ‘world’..
WSU, 2012 Regional Semifinalist; 2013 Victors over NU (3-1) & five set Competitors with Texas-Austin.
UH sweeps in an unfamiliar gymnasium.
—
A ji A ji Ajinamoto,
A-ji-no-mo-TOEEE!!!
Anybody find out who that recruit was from last night?
In the only battle between 2 Top 10s this week, PSU @ home leads Michigan 2-1. Don’t know when it was that the Lions lost 2 consecutive matches at home, but right now (with PSU’s Deja McClendon putting on a SHOWTIME performance) that doesn’t look like it will happen this weekend. Calling it for PSU, even though set 4 is still in progress.
During the conference opening weekend for most, only 3 major upsets thus far — [#15] Michigan St over [#1] PSU, Colorado over [#11] UCLA & [#31] St. Mary’s over [#8] San Diego — and 2 of those 3 upsets will have a direct bearing on UH’s RPI.
Note: In the conference’s Preseason Poll of Coaches, Colorado was picked to finish 8th while UCLA was chosen to finish 5th in the Pac-12 … Toreros was tabbed to finish 2nd ahead of St. Mary’s Gaels but behind BYU Cougars in the 10-team WCC.
PS: Was hard to root for either side in that Bulldogs vs Boise St game. But easy one tonight: Gooooooooooo Warriors!
@6.1, that “recruit from last night” would’ve been one Alohi Robins-Hardy.
Her mother, camera shy, Sistah Maaary, persisted in her warning(s) about those exta pounds which translate over the tube..
Needless to say, Alohi took her mom’s advice in rarity and arrived in cognito.
This Warrior is a bonafide diamond (in the rough or not), yet I couldn’t imagine why she wouldn’t be able to rs her FR year–on a VB schollie–and play BB on the side @@@UH.
He’ll have a half dozen to give @ summer’s end.
🙂
19. Wrong again, not Alohi, I’m familiar with her looks, it’s a haole, very fair complexion.
I’m guessing that it’s Emily Maglio, 6’2, brown curly hair.
Just wondering, how do you guys spot a recruit at the matches. Do they have a seat in a special area like behind the Wahine bench?
EM Doesn’t have curly hair.
Cal Poly leading LBSU 2-0
Kazu,
They don’t..they all pretend to know which recruits are THE recruits, but those girls spotted in the audience are merely PAC/B1G/SEC/Big12 undercover agents (in this case, da “haole”, no crime intended), she’s outta the Kremlin this weekend.
“THE recruits” yet all keep ending up in my own back yard. UDub’s one of the four best, state funded, public research institutes in America–keen to da UK’s Oxford.
Cal, UCLA, Michigan, Washington.
;-0
24.
Hope for UH’s sake that LB still pulls it out in five.;-)
23. Maybe so, but girls are girls, I’ve seen Kaela Goodman with curly and straight hair. Depends on their mood at the moment I guess. After saying that, in my opinion Maglio in pics is a looker, more so than the girl I saw.
22. Kazu. Recruits on visits, usually sit on the left end of the UH bench during warmups, then sit in the stands, recently in lower JJ, top row left.
#26 Wrong, in conference matches not involving Hawaii, it really doesn’t matter who who wins.
Has any of P&G’s “predictions” been right this season.
28. +1
25. I must say your posts are very entertaining.
If I was Scott every I would bring in some ordinary girl off of the street who doesn’t even play sports and sit her on the bench just to yank your strings. 🙂
Cal Poly sweeps the Beach
Davis leads Northridge 2-1
Cal Poly looks good.
Northridge beats UC Davis 3 sets to 2. Watched the video without audio once again. Fortunately LiveStat was working even though it froze at 14-11 in the 5th set. When Northridge celebrated you knew who won. Again frustrating that the camera scanned everything, the fans, huddle, the “make noise,” everything except the scoreboard.
Long Beach loss puts a slight damper on the TV match on FSW ch228.
Some really good BW matches today. The road could be lot tougher this year.
If Hawaii is playing well there is no team in the Big West capable of beating them.
Shoji has said that he thinks they have to run the table in conference to get seeded so hopefully they won’t have too many letdowns. At least they went on the road already and Creighton and Wichita State are both better than any teams they will see in the Big West.
P
| BG made some bad coaching decisions tonight.
Flip-flopping MBs and OPPs, partially out of necessity |-n-| NOT knowing the correct formula for successes when too many are injured, well..
&
A ds @Opp will never work; asking MB3 to go back and forth btwn, simply for her height, yet not truly insisting on being of da 2B called.sorrowful to those who are w/o rhythm! |
G.
Anyway, BG is still too far away from figuring it all out. He could surprise me before next weekend’s UH match (tho I doubt it).
*UH in four*
I’ll further suggest/predict of free will and speech that UH is stunned in Nov. when the favor is returned, when it will sting the most, when UH is sent packing.
For No.24 Joy Miley belongs on the RS; Mackie should sit the bench.
For HH should find herself @MB2, a new predicament for her.
For Jackson should continue to mop up the back court with her stellar defense.
—
Cindy,
What of ‘death’ and ‘life’ which exists here on VS?!
Yes, Cal Poly (where I came from once) defeated Long Beach in three close sets, two of them by a difference of only two points. Players to watch out for are Chelsea Hardin, Molly McConnell, Jennifer Keddy and the freshman sensation Taylor Gruenwald. But next Hawaii has to beware of Long Beach who’ll vent their frustrations on the next match with Hawaii on the road. So no five-game loss there. I was glad that Cal Poly beat Long Beach. No love lost for the Beach there.
Re: 18 P.S. Great to be a local sportswriter if you are covering Saturday night’s snooze-and-you-though-you’d-cruise Warriors on-the-edge-of-your-benchseat game. Not so much fun to be the beat sportswriter if you are covering Sunday’s Wahine snooze-cuz-you-won’t-lose vball match (yawn).
14. With Manu-Olevao not playing, you won’t see Hartong sitting out the whole match. but I could see that she does get a rest at some point
22. trying to remember how it works about when recruits can be on the bench. I remember Hartong, Goodman and Uiato all together on the bench at one match. But they may have already committed and or it was their official visit.
Hartong, Goodman and Uiato were all on the bench for senior night
44. thanks. It was senior night, which means they had already committed. but don’t remember the rule about when recruits could be on the bench ‘legally) I do remember Ali Santi on the bench one match a few years ago but that she moved up to the stands (I think) when the match started.
41. As much as it is an enjoyable job, I wouldn’t consider it fun for the football guys writing on deadline who likely had their leads written when UH was getting blown out then had to change their stories as the game changed. Much like when volleyball is up 2-0 and then it goes to 5. On deadline, we have 2 leads ready to go, one that UH wins, one that UH loses. The stress on deadline is making sure you send in the correct story the first time.
I like 5 p.m. games because we’re not pushing deadline as we were with the 8 p.m. start a few weeks ago.
My stress doesn’t change, however, because I am writing to get a story up on line as quickly as possible on our breaking. Don’t consider it ‘fun’ but the easier the match at the SSC, the less stressful it is to write.
When the match starts the prospective recruits always move to the stands, I’ve haven’t seen it otherwise. Hartong them sitting on the bench during senior nite doesn’t necessarily mean that they already signed. On Maeda’s senior nite Nikki Taylor (who already signed), Hannah Rooks and Taylor Agost were on the bench for the ceremony. Agost was a visiting recruit class of 2014, she has since then verbaled to Oregon.
48. if they hadn’t signed, they had given the oral commit. I do think it was their official visit. I had already spoken to them on the phone and reintroduced myself that night in person.