Sept. 22, 2001
HONOLULU, Hawai'i - The No. 12 University of Hawai'i Wahine volleyball team (6-4) defeated the No. 20 Santa Clara (7-3) 30-20, 30-19, 30-16 in front of 6,141 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center.
Kim Willoughby led the Wahine with 16 kills and eight digs, while Maja Gustin added 13 kills. Nohea Tano had her best match of her young career, recording a career-high nine kills and five blocks, while hitting .444.
Gustin started out the match hot, recording the first three Hawai'i kills as the team jumped out to leads at 15-10 and 22-13 before ending game 1 on a 3-0 run to win 30-20. From there the Wahine started to dominate a little more, taking leads at 16-7 and 23-9. Santa Clara was able to make a little run to cut the lead to 26-17 before eventually falling 30-19 in game 2.
Game 3 started out with the Broncos making an attempt to get back in the match as they kept the were only down 11-9 at one point. But then the Wahine jumped out on a 12-2 run and never looked back, breezing through the final game 30-16.
Santa Clara was led by Toni Muratore, who had 10 kills and two blocks, while Merrin Thompson and Jami Bari provided the defense with 14 and 12 digs, respectively.
Hawai'i will now go on the road to start the WAC season. The first conference match will be Saturday, Sept. 29 at Louisiana Tech in Rustin, La. The Wahine will then squeeze in a non-conference match at the University of Houston on Oct. 3 before facing Rice and Tulsa on Oct. 4th and 6th.
Santa Clara falls to 7-3 on the season, while Hawai'i improves to 6-4. The Broncos open West Coast Conference play Friday against San Diego.