Box Score

HONOLULU—The No. 6 Rainbow Wahine Volleyball team (10-1) swept past BYU (3-9) for the second night in a row, 25-23, 25-13, 25-16 in front of a crowd of 6,927. Kanani Danielson hammered her 1,000th career kill in the first set and finished with 11 on the night.

 

Danielson is the 17th player in program history to reach the 1,000 kill milestone. She finished the night raising her career total to 1,007 kills. Danielson also logged nine digs and an ace in the match. Brittany Hewitt led Hawai`i hitting .522 with 13 kills and a team-high four blocks. Chanteal Satele added 10 kills, 14 digs and two blocks while Emily Maeda served a career-high four aces and had seven digs. Dani Mafua posted 31 assists, six digs, and a block and Elizabeth Ka'aihue had a team-high 16 digs.

 

After trailing thoughout much of the first set, the Rainbow Wahine swiped game one from BYU, scoring the final three points to overtake the Cougars, 25-23. Danielson's 1,000th kill gave UH their 23rd point which was followed by a kill by Hewitt and a big 'Bow block by Hewitt and Satele to capture the set. Satele led UH in the first set with five kills and 10 digs, while Danielson and Hewitt had four kills a piece.  

 

The momentum from the come-from-behind first set win carried over into the second set as UH jumped out to a quick 9-3 lead and increased it to as much as 19-8. After hitting .154 in the first set, the 'Bows bounced back firing on all cylinders, hitting .424 in the second set while holding BYU to a 029 average. Satele again led Hawai`i with five kills in the set, followed by Danielson's four.

 

The third game was highlighted by six aces—four by Maeda and two straight by Mafua for the sixth and seventh points of the game. With the game tied at 12-12, Maeda came in and served tough, picking up two of her aces and forcing the Cougar defense into scramble mode. The 'Bows reeled off nine straight points to take a commanding 21-12 lead and never looked back, winning the set 25-16.

 

The BYU series finished off Hawai`i's non-conference schedule. This week the Rainbow Wahine will begin to defend their Western Athletic Conference title, starting with Utah State on Thursday, Sept. 23 and Nevada on Friday, Sept. 24. Both games start at 7:00 p.m.

                                                                                                                                -UH-