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Post by dd2000 on Dec 11, 2009 22:57:51 GMT -5
NCAA committee screwed us, and everybody we played. Illinois should have gotten to play Stanford. We were ranked number 3 in the country. We swept Stanford. We should of had the higher seed. They tossed out common sense at the expense of RPI. We should of had the higher seed and played Michigan.
It worked out fine for us, but for Illinois, not so well. They got screwed, and I hope these teams start letting the NCAA selection committee know about it.
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Post by Labrat33 on Dec 11, 2009 22:59:17 GMT -5
That's why they have been in the sweet 16 the last 2 years?!? Okay Floater. your negative comment is not needed here or anywhere else. The Illini are solid and will be back again next year ... they pretty much had their way the first set and had a set point in the third ... not overrated ... kudos to the Wahine for winning without Kaufman and with Aneli hurting ... good luck tomorrow!!
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Post by italianmattd on Dec 11, 2009 23:13:29 GMT -5
any post match notes up? I want to know what Shoji says about Amber and Aneli.
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Post by sideoutnow on Dec 11, 2009 23:17:58 GMT -5
Hawaii Upsets No. 5 Seed Illinois, 3-1, In Round Of 16 Rainbow Wahine move on to face the winner of Friday's late match between fourth-seeded Stanford and No. 13 Michigan
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Dec. 11, 2009
By Michelle Smith Special to NCAA.com
STANFORD, Calif. - A tough beginning turned into a happy ending for 12th-seeded Hawaii. Down a set and with one of its top players out of the game, Hawaii rallied to earn a spot in the NCAA regional final Friday night at Maples Pavilion, defeating fifth-seeded Illinois, 3-1.
Hawaii, the tournament's No. 12 seed and the winner of 27 straight matches, moves on to face the winner of Friday's late match between fourth-seeded Stanford and No. 13 Michigan.
The Rainbow Wahine (31-2) rallied to win 21-25, 25-10, 27-25, 25-16 after losing the opening set to the Illini, who were making their first back-to-back trip to the regional semifinals since 1989.
Sophomores Kanani Danielson and Stephanie Ferrell led the Hawaii attack after senior middle hitter Amber Kaufman left early in the first set, having aggravated an abdominal strain she's been dealing with for several weeks.
Ferrell set the pace early and finished with a career-high 19 kills, hitting .412 for the match.
Danielson, the team's kill leader and the NCAA leader in kills-per-set in the first weekend of tournament play, finished with 21 kills, 13 digs and four block assists.
Kaufman, an all-conference selection along with Danielson, left after the first set and was replaced in the lineup by sophomore Alexis Forsythe. Forsythe had been practicing with the starters most of the week, according to Wahine coach Dave Shoji because Kaufman was unable to practice.
"This is a huge win for our program," Shoji said. "If you look at the brackets, we are the only non-BCS school left and we are proud of that. We feel like we are representing all the non-BCS schools because there are a lot of good teams out there. We feel like we are as good as anybody in the country."
Hawaii hasn't lost a match since a Sept. 6 contest against Cal in Hawaii.
Illinois (26-6) is now 1-8 all-time against Hawaii.
The match turned in a nip-and-tuck third set. The set had nine ties and Hawaii had game point on a kill by Danielson before falling behind 25-24 on an ace by Illinois' Laura DeBruler. The Wahine responded with a cross-court kill by Danielson to tie the match again at 25-25 and senior Aneli Cubi-Otineru closed the game with two straight kills.
Cubi-Otineru collected the 1,000th kill of her career in the match.
"We knew if they could pass that well, they would be able to run their offense that fast and get us in trouble," Illini coach Kevin Hambly said. "In that third set, we were able to get them out of their system and we were able to score, but we couldn't sustain it."
Hawaii rallied after losing the first set to dominate the second. The Rainbow Wahine grabbed an early 6-0 lead, and pushed to 14-4 on a pair of aces by Cubi-Otineru and a kill by Ferrell. Hawaii had three service aces in the set.
Illinois held off a Hawaii rally to win the first set of the match, 25-21.
The Rainbow Wahine rallied back from an early deficit to tie the match at 17-17, but were outscored 6-1 as Illinois assumed a 23-18 lead.
A pair of kills by Ferrell, who had seven in the set, pulled Hawaii to within 23-21 before the Illini closed it out.
Illinois jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first set, a run that included a pair of kills by sophomore Michelle Bartch. The quick start forced Hawaii into a time out.
Ferrell led the Wahine back into the match with four kills and Hawaii pulled within 14-11.
Hawaii tied the match at 14-14 on a block by Ferrell and Brittany Hewiit and another solo block by Hewitt gave the Wahine their first lead of the first set at 15-14.
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Post by sasa on Dec 11, 2009 23:21:04 GMT -5
Interesting that with Hawaii's win, seeds 9 (California), 10 (Nebraska), 11 (Minnesota), and 12 (Hawaii) will be facing the #1 (PSU), 2 (Texas), 3 (Florida State), and possibly 4 (Stanford) seeds. Seeds 5 (Illinois), 6 (Washington), 7 (Iowa State), and 8 (UCLA) failed to advance to the elite 8.
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Post by Labrat33 on Dec 11, 2009 23:22:34 GMT -5
Okay Hawaii fans...where can I go and watch the Regional final tomorrow? what restaurants....hook me up, while I'm in town....damn this hotels without cable Again, congrats to Illinois with a great seas and for pushing Hawaii. Great Job Bows!!! Try Giovanni Pastrami on Lewers ... they have a ton of TV's and good food
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Post by italianmattd on Dec 11, 2009 23:28:36 GMT -5
Okay Hawaii fans...where can I go and watch the Regional final tomorrow? what restaurants....hook me up, while I'm in town....damn this hotels without cable Again, congrats to Illinois with a great seas and for pushing Hawaii. Great Job Bows!!! Try Giovanni Pastrami on Lewers ... they have a ton of TV's and good food I think they are going to show the BJ Penn fight though.... who knows! Maybe there will be a double whammy for the islands tomorrow!!!!
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Post by dd2000 on Dec 11, 2009 23:28:47 GMT -5
Interesting that with Hawaii's win, seeds 9 (California), 10 (Nebraska), 11 (Minnesota), and 12 (Hawaii) will be facing the #1 (PSU), 2 (Texas), 3 (Florida State), and possibly 4 (Stanford) seeds. Seeds 5 (Illinois), 6 (Washington), 7 (Iowa State), and 8 (UCLA) failed to advance to the elite 8. One of those teams, Illinois, should have faced a true 12. We were a ligit 3 or 4 seed. I'm not complaining. I'll take the elite 8 any way we can get it. But .................
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Post by kolohekeiki on Dec 11, 2009 23:29:41 GMT -5
Okay Hawaii fans...where can I go and watch the Regional final tomorrow? what restaurants....hook me up, while I'm in town....damn this hotels without cable Again, congrats to Illinois with a great seas and for pushing Hawaii. Great Job Bows!!! Try Giovanni Pastrami on Lewers ... they have a ton of TV's and good food or if you're close enough i'm sure Eastside Grill on University will be airing the match...they have some ono grinds there as well
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Post by italianmattd on Dec 11, 2009 23:33:36 GMT -5
Try Giovanni Pastrami on Lewers ... they have a ton of TV's and good food or if you're close enough i'm sure Eastside Grill on University will be airing the match...they have some ono grinds there as well Are they still open?? Hmm...
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Post by spanky on Dec 11, 2009 23:34:01 GMT -5
Try Giovanni Pastrami on Lewers ... they have a ton of TV's and good food or if you're close enough i'm sure Eastside Grill on University will be airing the match...they have some ono grinds there as well Brah, eastside grill is long gone... it's now a day-care center for the kiddies. TJ's (@kapiolani & king) will probably show it. They got cheap drinks and foods not bad.
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Post by Labrat33 on Dec 11, 2009 23:40:13 GMT -5
I don't see how it could be strategic, she's gotta be hurt... but I really hope she's not. I don't see how just setting the pins will work against stanford. Especially with Aneli not 100%. That's exactly why it could be a strategic move for THIS match. Setting the pins was getting it done. Illinois' big middle leads the country in blocks. Amber is not a good blocking middle. He likely traded middle offense for good middle defense, knowing the outsides for UH were dominating. I agree with you, tomorrow is a whole new match. I expect to see Kaufmann. UNLESS, she really is injured. I believe this was a strategic move on Dave's part. He rested Kaufmann, got good defense in the middle at the net, and got all the offense he needed. dd2000, I really like your posts, but on this one I think you are wrong. Both Honolulu papers are reporting Amber reinjured her abdominal in the first set ... I hope she is healthy for tomorrow ... Go Bows!
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Post by dd2000 on Dec 11, 2009 23:42:26 GMT -5
That's exactly why it could be a strategic move for THIS match. Setting the pins was getting it done. Illinois' big middle leads the country in blocks. Amber is not a good blocking middle. He likely traded middle offense for good middle defense, knowing the outsides for UH were dominating. I agree with you, tomorrow is a whole new match. I expect to see Kaufmann. UNLESS, she really is injured. I believe this was a strategic move on Dave's part. He rested Kaufmann, got good defense in the middle at the net, and got all the offense he needed. dd2000, I really like your posts, but on this one I think you are wrong. Both Honolulu papers are reporting Amber reinjured her abdominal in the first set ... I hope she is healthy for tomorrow ... Go Bows! Yup, I saw that too. Hope she heals fast. Its one of those nagging injuries though.
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Post by kolohekeiki on Dec 11, 2009 23:51:10 GMT -5
or if you're close enough i'm sure Eastside Grill on University will be airing the match...they have some ono grinds there as well Brah, eastside grill is long gone... it's now a day-care center for the kiddies. TJ's (@kapiolani & king) will probably show it. They got cheap drinks and foods not bad. sorry my bad...haven't been on o'ahu for year and a half didn't even know it closed...that's where we use to go to watch games that we couldn't watch at the dorms
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Post by dd2000 on Dec 11, 2009 23:54:36 GMT -5
I don't want to say this on the Stanford game thread:
Their middles look slow. They are always late getting to the outside on the block. Wow.
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