RENO, Nev. - The University of Nevada (8-16, 4-7 WAC) volleyball team fell in three sets to #3 Hawai'i (20-2, 10-0 WAC) in a Western Athletic Conference match on Saturday night at the Virginia Street Gym by scores of 16-25, 20-25 and 17-25. With the loss the Wolf Pack are now 8-16 on the season and 4-7 in WAC play while the conference leading Rainbow Wahine improved to 20-2 overall and remained perfect at 10-0 in league play.
Early in set one there were three ties and three lead changes but an 8-2 run by UH put them on top 12-6 as they went on to the 25-16 victory. Hawai'i hit .480 in the first set and Nevada .214.
Nevada scored the first three points of set two before the Rainbow Wahine used an 8-5 run to tie the score at 8-8. The second tie of the set came at 12-12 but again UH put together spurt scoring the next six points to move ahead 18-12. The Pack closed within three points at 22-19 before Hawai'i closed out the set with a 3-1 run to win 25-20 and take a 2-0 advantage into the locker room. Offensively UH hit .250 and Nevada .114 in set two.
The Pack held an early 4-1 advantage over the nationally ranked Rainbow Wahine in set three but UH tied the score at 12-12 and it was tied for the last time at 14-14. Hawai'i scored the next three points and never trailed in winning the final set 25-17 to take the match 3-0. The Pack had their best hitting set of the night at .308 but so did UH at .517
Junior Kylie Harrington led the Pack with 10 kills and also topped the team with eight digs on the night. Sophomore Erin Garvey added eight kills while senior setter Sonnie Sei dished out 25 assists on the night.
Kanani Danielson led three UH players in double figure kills with 15 while Aneli Cubi-Otineru and Amber Kaufman added 11 and 10 respectively. Setter Dani Mafua finished with a match-high 39 assists. Stephanie Brandt and Elizabeth Ka'aihue topped Hawai'i with seven digs apiece.
UH hit .394 in the match and Nevada .202. Hawai'i held a slim 7-6 blocking advantage in the match. Lindsay Baldwin topped the Pack with five blocks and Brittany Hewitt had six for the Rainbow Wahine.
The Pack will host intrastate rival UNLV in a nonconference matchup on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m.
