Spartan Daily

SJSU women's volleyball team crushed by conference leader Hawaii

Junior right side player Krista Miller (#1) and sophomore left side player Hanah Blume (#15) can do nothing but watch as senior middle blocker Kylie Miraldi dives to the floor in an attempt to keep the ball alive during Hawaii’s sweep of SJSU on Tuesday night. Photo by Vernon McKnight / Spartan Daily

The SJSU women's volleyball team was swept Tuesday night in three sets by a dominant Rainbow Wahine team, which continued its undefeated streak in Western Athletic Conference games.

“There’s always that feeling that we could have done better — that we could have improved," said junior right side player Krista Miller. "We fought hard against a really good team.”

SJSU head coach Oscar Crespo commented on the challenge Hawaii brought.

“It’s a nationally ranked team over on the other side,” he said. “We made them earn what they needed to do to beat us and we did a nice job with our kids posting some really nice numbers.”

Throughout all three sets, the teams went back-and-forth, with Hawaii never grasping a runaway lead.

Out of the gate, Hawaii (22-1, 10-0 WAC) demonstrated both a tight offense and defense, keeping SJSU (9-14, 4-6 WAC) several points down, despite some spirited plays.

Miller made a successful block early in the first set, bringing SJSU within a point of the Rainbow Wahine.

“That block at the beginning was  kind of a momentum changer,” Miller said. “I was proud of that.”

The Rainbow Wahine widened the lead after the first timeout in the opening set, finishing the set with the night’s biggest gap at 25-17.

This rally was fueled by several big plays by Hawaii’s freshman outside hitter Jane Croson, who scored both with swift kills and deft serves.

Even so, the Spartans kept the score within reach.

“We really wanted to keep them from gaining a huge momentum changer of running streaks,” Miller said.

Savanah Leaf, a freshman left sider for the Spartans, factored heavily into the second set, helping SJSU take the lead at one point at 18-17.

“In the second game I had a lot more kills, and I think that was a big changer,” Leaf said. “You try to keep the ball in play, but I was trying to get some kills."

The second set ended up with a score of 25-20 in favor of Hawaii, SJSU’s smallest margin of defeat in the match.  

By the end of the third set, despite several rallies by the Spartans, Hawaii established a clear lead and ended up winning 25-19.

Crespo said he was proud of the Spartan team.

“They played tough,” he said. “They played hard. They definitely understood what we needed to do on our side of the net and I’m really proud of them for executing that way.” 

Chanteal Satele, a senior outside hitter for Hawaii, recorded a game high 15 kills.

“I think we did good,” she said of Hawaii's performance. “We pulled it out. It was a rough travel for us, so I think we did well.”

She said SJSU also played well.

"They’re a much different team than the first time we played them," Satele said of the Spartans. "I thought they played really well.”

The Spartans will next face off against Nevada in Reno on Thursday, followed by another away game at Fresno State on Saturday.