Hawai?i swept past USC to advance to its 23rd NCAA Regional next
weekend. Meanwhile, NMSU fell at California in its first-ever NCAA
second round appearance.
Hawai?i 3, USC 0 | Stats
LOS ANGELES ? No. 6 Hawai`i swept through the No. 12 USC 25-21, 25-18, 25-22 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Galen Center Sunday, advancing to its 10th regional in the last 11 years.
Amber Kaufman hit a career-high .714 with 10 kills and two blocks. Kanani Danielson had a double-double, finishing with 13 kills and 15 digs, while Jamie Houston led all players with 17 kills. Dani Mafua set the Hawai`i attack that hit .307 on the night, posting 43 assists, eight digs and three aces.
USC opened a 3-1 lead to start the first set, only to see Aneli Cubi-Otineru serve a three-point run, giving UH 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. UH 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 UH on a 4-0 run. The Women of Troy tied it at 4-4 before a huge 5-1 run by Hawai`i got UH the 9-5 edge. UH 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 led to a USC hitting error, putting UH 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 Fort Collins, Colo., on Friday, Dec. 12.
California 3, New Mexico State 1 | Stats
BERKELEY, Calif. - New Mexico State's season came to an end in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday, as it fell in four sets to California (23-25, 13-25, 25-21, 17-25). The Aggies finish the season 26-9.
NMSU hit .107 on the match, compared to the .310 of the Bears. Cal also out-blocked the Aggies 17.5-5.
Lindsey Yon led the Aggies with her 14th double-double of the season, finishing with 11 kills and 11 digs. Krista Altermatt had a team-high 12 kills to go along with nine digs, while Amber Simpson tallied eight kills.
Trailing by as many as six in the first set, the Aggies rattled off four straight points to cut it to two (16-18) and tied it at 23 apiece. Cal then scored the next two points to win the set. NMSU hit .303 on the set, compared to the .400 of the Bears. The Aggies were also out-blocked 2-0. Simpson and Altermatt paced NMSU with four kills apiece.
Cal jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the second set and never looked back, winning by 12. The Aggies had 14 attack errors in the set, with just seven kills for a -.233 hitting percentage, while the Bears hit .227.
NMSU came out after the break and took a 7-2 lead. The Aggies led by as many as eight (23-15) and went on to the 25-21 win. The Aggies hit .273 on the set, compared to the .289 of the Bears. Cal also out-blocked NMSU 3-0.
The Aggies jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the fourth set, but Cal quickly tied it at five. Cal took its first lead at 7-6 before both teams battled back and forth for most of the set. Up 16-15, the Bears scored four straight points to go up 20-15 and went on to the 25-17 win.