This overall was one of the best matches in Rainbow Wahine history. Defeating a #1 team is something that does not happen that often since we do not get to play a team like that in the conference. The team defeated Texas 3-1 (25-19, 19-25, 27-25, 25-16) in a match that went on for a little over two hours.
With a lot of unknowns coming into the match with who will start and what will happen, they were answered. Head coach Dave Shoji started sophomore Tai Manu-Olevau on the outside along with freshman Nikki Taylor on the opposite. The announcers say that Taylor was put in because of her big block which came out a success. The freshman started off her career with 10 kills while hitting .500 clip to go along with six block assists. Manu-Olevau hit .240 with eight kills and eight digs. This experiment by Shoji was a good decision by him and I believe he has gotten more respect for it.
Some new career highs tonight were 11 kills by Adolpho, Manu-Olevau's eight digs, one dig for Mendoza, and Taylor's 10 kills, hitting .500, four digs, six blocks. Also congratulations to Emily Hartong for getting her 1000th kill of her career.
VIDEO: Match Point Against #1 Texas (Video from Big West Conference)
Great all around effort by everyone.Noticeable improvement in the middle and with Tai and WOW can't say enough about Nikki !
ReplyDeleteThe best All American last night was Emily. She overall outplayed the two Texas AA OH.
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