HONOLULU – The No. 5 University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team (21-1, 11-0 WAC) seized control in the conference standings, sweeping the New Mexico State Aggies (15-10, 9-2) 25-18, 25-10 and 25-23 in front of a crowd of 5,696 at the Stan Sheriff Center Sunday.
The first set was tight early, seeing seven ties before a 7-1 Hawai'i run put them ahead 12-8. The Rainbow Wahine kept their lead between two and four points for most of the rest of the set before going on a 4-0 run to close it out, taking it 25-18.
An early 10-1 run by the Rainbow Wahine put UH in control of the second set right away, 12-3. Another Hawai'i run made it 17-5 before the Rainbow Wahine closed out the set in dominating fashion, winning 25-10. UH hit .481 with 16 kills in the set while holding NMSU to six kills and a .087 hitting percentage.
After Hawai'i jumped out to an early 5-2 edge, NMSU responded, scoring six of the next eight points to take the 8-7 lead. A quick 4-1 run by UH put them ahead 15-12 at the media timeout. The Aggies stayed in it, pulling back within a point on a couple occasions. Hawai'i got it to 24-19, only to see the Aggies give UH a late Halloween scare, scoring the next four points to get it to 24-23. But Danielson stepped up, putting away a deep kill to take it 25-23.
The Rainbow Wahine host Louisiana Tech tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Stan Sheriff Center, before taking on Hawai'i Pacific on Friday, Nov. 5, also at 7 p.m.
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