LIHU‘E — In one of the biggest upsets the college volleyball season has featured, the Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine were swiftly defeated by the Utah State Aggies in the championship of the Western Athletic Conference tournament, Wednesday in Las Vegas. Entering
LIHU‘E — In one of the biggest upsets the college volleyball season has featured, the Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine were swiftly defeated by the Utah State Aggies in the championship of the Western Athletic Conference tournament, Wednesday in Las Vegas.
Entering the tournament as the top seed and hoping to take home its 11th WAC championship, Hawai‘i (28-2) was a 3-0 victim in the finals as Utah State (26-8) capitalized on key points to notch the 25-15, 27-25, 26-24 victory.
The Aggies used the momentum from a back-and-forth, five-set win over second-seeded New Mexico State in the semifinals (25-23, 20-25, 25-21, 22-25, 16-14) to pull the stunner.
The loss to Utah State is the only WAC defeat Hawai‘i suffered all season, after compiling a perfect 16-0 regular season record and topping Idaho 3-0 in the WAC tournament semifinals.
Shay Sorensen had a team-high 13 kills and a .684 hitting percentage. Liz McArthur added 12 kills and seven digs for Utah State.
Kanani Danielson had a match-high 20 kills for Hawai‘i, while Chanteal Satele and Michelle Waber had nine and eight, respectively.
Utah State used a 15-5 run to close out the first set after the two teams had played evenly at 10-10.
UH seemed to rebound in the second, grabbing a 23-18 lead. But Utah State won five straight, then fought off two set points before a Wahine error gave the Aggies a 2-0 advantage.
The Wahine held off two match points in the third to even things up at 24-24, but back-to-back kills by Katie Astle and McArthur gave Utah State the unlikely and one-sided result for the conference title.
This week had been all smiles for the Wahine, as they swept the Coach, Player and Freshman of the Year awards for the second straight season.
Dave Shoji took home his eighth WAC Coach of the Year award and 11th overall.
Junior outside hitter Danielson was named Player of the Year for the second consecutive year. It was the 15th straight year that a Hawai‘i player was voted as the WAC’s best.
Middle Emily Hartong was named Freshman of the Year.
In addition to those nods, sophomore Brittany Hewitt, senior Elizabeth Ka‘aihue, senior Dani Mafua and junior Chanteal Satele all made the First Team All-Conference.
Hartong was named to the Second Team, while Michelle Waber joined her on the All-Freshman Team.
