Wahine claim tournament crown with win over Stanford

[kolohekeiki]

The Rainbow Wahine claimed the title of their own Chevron Wahine Volleyball Invitational with a four set victory over Stanford 17-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-17 on Sunday evening.

Stanford got out of the gates early and showed why they were favorites to knock of the Wahine. Behind the offensive firepower of junior middle Carly Wopat and freshmen Inky Ijanaku, Jordan Burgess and Brittany Howard the Cardinal was able to silence the Wahine faithful and funaway with the first set after the Wahine hung tough for the first half of the set. The Cardinal just seemed to powerful for the Wahine to keep up. Sophomore Jane Croson had the hot hand for the Wahine in the first set putting down a game high seven kills.

The Wahine turned the tides a bit in the second set holding a slim two point lead. Croson continued her hot hand as she became the Wahine got to girl as she was putting kills away from all over the court. Redshirt freshman Jade Vorster continued her hot hitting for the weekend as she helped lead the Wahine to victory in the second set. A great sliding dig at the ending of the set by junior setter Mita Uiato and a kill by Croson ending an exciting second set for the Wahine.

Junior Emily Hartong started getting into the groove as the Wahine ran away and never looked back as the Wahine took it to the Cardinal in the third set. The Wahine kept sharp led on the defensive end by junior Alyssa Longo, making dig after dig. Balls that Stanford would have thought would've hit the ground was being popped up with ease by Longo. In a tremendous sequence to get to game point in the third set, Longo dug a hard driven ball by Stanford middle Inky Ajanaku straight to Uiato and Croson finished off the point with yet another kill.

The fourth set started off more of a battle as the Cardinal raced off to a quick 5-2 lead forcing Coach Dave Shoji to call a timeout. The Wahine would catch Stanford and tie the score at 10 on a Stanford error. The Wahine and Cardinal would then trade points and the Wahine took the lead for good at 14-13 on another hitting error by the Cardinal. Hartong would then catch fire and pick up three kills stretching the Wahine lead to 18-14. Stanford would get as close as 20-17, but that's the closest they would get as the Wahine would finish the match on a 5-0 run to claim the tournament championship on a kill by junior opposite Kaela Goodman.

Croson finished the match with 21 kills and 11 digs to lead the Wahine, while Hartong had 17 kills and eight digs. Jade Vorster continued her impressive Wahine debut putting down nine kills without making an error for the second straight match. Alyssa Longo also continued her impressive Wahine debut scooping up 16 digs and picking up an ace.

For their efforts Longo and Croson were named to the all-tournament team with Hartong being named the tournament MVP.

The Wahine improve to 3-0 and will now play in the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic starting Friday. The Wahine open the tournament with San Francisco while Baylor will play California.

[Irse]

Nice write up. It was fun watching the Wahine play.

[niterunner808]