Hawai‘i 3, Utah State 0
The No. 5 University of Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (19-1, 9-0 WAC) finished their long road trip with a sweep of the Utah State Aggies (15-7, 3-6) 25-18, 25-22 and 25-16 at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in a match televised nationally on ESPNU Monday.
Chanteal Satele celebrated her 20th birthday hitting .368 with 10 kills, six blocks and five digs. Elizabeth Ka‘aihue tied season-highs with 22 digs and three aces while Kanani Danielson led all players with 12 kills. Brittany Hewitt built on her national lead in blocks, posting eight blocks to go with her six kills. Emily Hartong added seven kills while Dani Mafua went for 37 assists and seven digs.
After surrendering the first two points of the first set, Hewitt served the Rainbow Wahine on a five-point run to put them ahead 5-2. Utah State scored the next three to tie it at five, eventually taking back the lead at 12-11. A big 6-1 run by Hawai‘i got it to 19-15 before pulling away to a 25-18 first set victory. UH did it with great defense in the first set, recording 23 digs, including 10 by Ka‘aihue, and four blocks, allowing just seven Aggie kills.
The second set started out back-and-forth with USU holding a slight 5-4 lead. A four-point Hawai‘i run, capped by two Hewitt blocks, got them up 8-5. The Rainbow Wahine kept the lead between two and five points the whole way, finishing off with a 25-22 second set victory. UH had six blocks in the set, including five by Hewitt.
Hawai‘i opened the third set with a 5-1 lead, forcing an early USU timeout. UH pushed it up to 13-7 only to see a 5-1 Aggie run get it back to 14-11. But the Rainbow Wahine had the response, using a six-point run to get it to 20-12, before scoring the final three points to close it out 25-16.
Fresno State 3, Boise State 2
In the second five set thriller of the season between the Bulldogs and Broncos on the volleyball floor, Fresno State dug deep and smashed Boise State for the fourth straight time with a 3-2 road win (25-18, 19-25, 19-25, 25-21 and 15-13) to move into sole possession of fifth place in the Western Athletic Conference standings.
Fresno State (10-11, 4-5 WAC) improved their WAC-best mark this year in five-set matches to a perfect 4-0 record, extended their winning streak to three straight with all the victories coming on the road and completed a season sweep in back-to-back years against the Broncos.
"This was an awesome match and very fun to coach," head coach Lauren Netherby-Sewell said. "Our team has so much fight in them and they're just tapping into it."
The Bulldogs' Marissa Brand and Kelli Parker led the way on offense. Brand, a sophomore, tied a career-high with 23 kills for her third straight double-double and ninth of the season by adding 15 digs. Parker converted 13 kills over the final three sets. Senior Kelly Mason recorded a season-best 24 digs, one shy of her career-best mark of 25 in three previous matches earlier in her Fresno State career, and senior setter Kasey Van Grouw tossed up a season-best 45 assists.
"The group was most proud to win a team fighting spirit award," Netherby-Sewell added. "It was a total group effort and we are excited to get home. It's a great night."
Fresno State grabbed an early lead with the 25-18 victory in set one, but needed to mount a fearless comeback after dropping the second and third sets by the score of 25-19 in each set.
With the Dogs down 11-6 in the fourth set, one of Parker's 13 kills started a 13-8 Fresno State run to even the set at 19-19. Parker added three more down the stretch to secure the fourth set win 25-21 and force the deciding fifth set
A nail-biting back-and-forth battle ensued in Fresno State's fourth fifth set of 2010 and the Bulldogs finished strong by winning the final three points, including Parker's match winner, to remain undefeated in five set thrillers.
The Dogs completed their longest road trip of the year with a 3-1 clip, including wins at Boise State, CSU Bakersfield and San Jose State while the lone loss came at No. 5 Hawai'i.
Boise State dropped 17-9 on the season and 4-6 against WAC opponents. The Broncos had entered the match 48 spots higher than Fresno State in the national RPI. BSU's Alisha Young and Sadie Maughan both surpassed the double-digit kills plateau with 19 and 16 kills, respectively. Boise State is now in sixth place in the WAC.