#4 California 3, Utah State 0 (25-15, 25-11, 25-20)
BERKELEY, Calif. –(USU Media Relations) Utah State's
volleyball team saw its 2010 season come to a close here Friday in the first
round of the NCAA Tournament against seventh-seeded and fourth-ranked
California in three sets (25-15, 25-11, 25-20).
Utah State, who was making its fourth-ever NCAA
Tournament appearance, ends its season with a 24-9 record. Those 24 wins for
the Aggies are the seventh-most in school history and the most since the 1982
team finished with a 28-19 mark.
Senior middle blocker Shantell Durrant (American Fork,
Utah) led Utah State with seven kills and six blocks, while hitting .545
(7-1-11). Senior setter Chelsea Fowles (Hollister, Calif.) added six kills, six
digs and three blocks, and hit .500 (6-0-12), and senior libero Christine
Morrill (Neola, Utah) had a match-high 16 digs.
Tarah Murrey had 19 kills and eight digs for California
and hit .463 (19-0-41) in the match.
California used a 7-2 run in the first set to break a 6-6
tie en route to its 10-point win. Cal hit .379 (14-3-29) in the first set and
Utah State hit .062 (9-7-32).
California carried its momentum into the second set
scoring the first four points and leading 8-1 early on as it coasted to the 25-11
win. The Bears hit .326 (17-3-43) in the second set as compared to a negative
.023 (5-6-43) hitting percentage for the Aggies.
Utah State continued to fight in the third set as it
forced six ties before California used an 8-1 run to turn a 12-12 tie into a
20-13 lead and the Bears went on to post the five-point win. Cal hit .333
(18-5-39) in the final set and Utah State hit .143 (12-6-42).
California finished the match with a .342 (49-11-111)
hitting percentage and Utah State hit a season-low .060 (26-19-117). Cal also
had 21 more digs (60-39) and six more team blocks (12-6), while both teams had
three service aces and USU had two fewer service errors (6-4).
#11 Washington 3, #7 Hawai‘i 0 (25-17, 25-11, 25-23)
SEATTLE, Wash.—(UH Media Relations) The 15th-seeded University of Hawai`i volleyball team (28-3) was swept by host Washington, 17-25, 11-25, and 23-25 on Friday at the Hec-Edmundson Pavilion. The Rainbow Wahine were led by Kanani Danielson who had 10 kills.
Danielson also was in on two blocks and had 11 digs in the match. Brittany Hewitt had six kills and no errors in 13 swings for a .462 hitting percentage. Hewitt also had a team-high four blocks on the night. Senior Dani Mafua dished out 28 assists with seven digs, a block and a service ace while fellow senior Liz Ka`aihue led UH with 21 digs.
As a team, the 'Bows out-blocked the Huskies 6-to-4, but UW out-hit UH .328 to .229 for the match.
The Rainbow Wahine dropped the first set of the match for just the second time all season, 17-25. The first time that happened was last week in the WAC Championship game versus Utah State. The ‘Bows tied UW twice at 9-9 and 11-11, but could never overtake the Huskies. Michelle Waber and Danielson led UH with three kills a piece while Liz Ka`aihue had 11 digs in the first set alone.
In the second set, UH took a 1-0 lead, but UW capitalized on a called net violation, an overpass kill and two hitting errors to jump out to a 5-1 lead and never looked back. Hawai`i eventually dropped the set, 11-25—the 11 points scored by UH was the lowest since losing to Texas 11-25 in 2009. Hawai`i hit .000 to UW’s .516 in the second set.
UH jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the third set the Huskies caught up and overtook the ‘Bows and slowly pulled away building as large as six point lead three times. But the Rainbow Wahine battled back cutting their deficit to 24-23 before Washington got the final kill to end Hawai`i’s season.
The ‘Bows had no answer for Washington’s Kindra Carlson who hit a game-high 18 kills in 38 swings for a .396 percentage. Washington will now advances to the Regionals—which they will host in Seattle and face second-seeded Nebraska.
The loss marked the end of the careers two four-year players, setter Mafua and libeiro Ka`aihue. Mafua played in 128 matches and finishes her career sixth all-time in UH history with 3,745 assists (10.18 per game). Mafua also had 634 digs, 66 aces and 152 blocks. Ka`aihue appeared in 128 matches and last night, she moved past Tita Ahuna for second place all-time in the UH career record book in digs. She ends her stellar career with 1,416 total digs and averaged UH-career record 3.68 digs per game.