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The University of Utah Athletics
Volleyball Falls to No. 10 Hawaii
6/21/1999 12:00 AM | Volleyball
October 10, 1998
SALT LAKE CITY - Utah's Kalani Tonga had a match-high 23 kills, but her team fell short as the Utes lost to the tenth-ranked Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine in Western Athletic Conference volleyball on Friday night at Crimson Court.
Hawaii, playing its first match off of the island this season, won 15-10, 15-11, 7-15, 15-4. The Rainbow Wahine improved to 12-1 overall and remained in first place in the WAC Pacific Division with a 4-0 mark. Utah fell to 10-5 and 0-2 in league play, losing the to two Top 10 teams in eight days after falling to No. 5 BYU last Friday.
Tonga hit .280 for the match and had eight digs for the Utes. Stacie Greenwalt and Sara Shakula both posted double-figure kills with 12 and 10, respectively, and had four blocks. Brooke Barton and Megan Lovell each had a match-high 12 digs. Graciela Torres posted a match-high 55 assists for the Utes.
Heather Bown led Hawai'i with 17 kills, a .364 hitting percentage and six blocks. Jessica Sudduth had 14 kills and eight blocks.
"We just played two of the best teams in the conference, and I felt very good about our effort (Friday night)," said Ute head coach Beth Launiere. "We emphasized all week that we needed to improve our mental toughness. We did that. I thought that we played with them for about 80 percent of the match. We just had some lapses where we gave up long strings of points and let two games slip away, and you can't do that against good teams.
"That was the best match Kalani (Tonga) has played this season," continued Launiere.
The lapses Launiere was referring to came at inopportune times in the first and second games. With the score tied 4-all in the first game, the Rainbow Wahine reeled off seven unanswered points to take a 12-5 edge and win 15-10. The collapse in game two was even more devastating. Leading 6-5, Utah gave up seven-straight points to fall behind 13-6. The U. got back to within 14-11 and managed to fight off game point five times before falling 15-11.
Utah turned the tables in game three. After jumping out to a 7-4 advantage, the Utes went on a 6-0 run to take a commanding 13-4 lead and eventually win 15-7. Utah outhit Hawai'i .340 to .125 in that game, but was outhit for the match .222 to .182. The Rainbow Wahine also had a 13-7 edge in blocking on the night.
The Utes will try to pick up their first WAC win of the season on Saturday, hosting San Diego State at 7:00 p.m.
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