STANFORD, Calif. — Third-ranked Hawai‘i swept its way back to volleyball’s Final Four tonight, winning the NCAA’s Stanford Regional with a 25-23, 25-19, 25-18 victory over 16th-ranked Michigan.

The Rainbow Wahine will take a 28-match winning streak into Thursday’s national semifinal against top-ranked Penn State at the St. Pete Times Forum in Florida. The Nittany Lions’ streak hit 100 today and they are going for an unprecedented third consecutive NCAA championship.
Hawai‘i (32-2) is going for its fourth title, and first since 1987. But for now, it is savoring its first final-four appearance since 2003.

"It means a lot to our program, our school, our state. We're proud to represent everybody back home," UH coach Dave Shoji said on ESPNU.

The accomplishment is made sweeter by the No. 12 seed it was given despite a winning streak that goes back to Sept. 6. The Rainbow Wahine had to beat USC at USC to get to this regional. They took out two Big Ten teams here.
Hawai‘i had tremendous balance in its 18th regional final, with every attacker getting at least six kills. It was again led by its sophomores, with regional Most Outstanding Player Kanani Danielson going for 11 kills and Stephanie Ferrell following up a career-high 19 Friday with 10 more.
Amber Kaufman, who aggravated an abdominal strain and missed most of Friday’s match started tonight and collected eight kills on .636 hitting, with two blocks. Freshman Brittany Hewitt was in on five of the Rainbows’ seven stuffs.
The 13th-seeded Wolverines finished their finest season 27-10. They got 13 kills from sophomore Alex Hunt.
The opening set was a series of service runs. Michigan bolted to a 12-8 advantage on 3-0 runs from all-region players Juliana Paz and Lexi Zimmerman.
Hawai‘i was hitting negative .200 at that stage. But Kaufman served five straight to put UH ahead. By the time Liz Ka‘aihue was done serving three in a row, the ‘Bows led 19-16.
In that span, the Wolverines had just two kills and twice as many hitting errors. They would get within one, but never catch the Rainbows.
Michigan out-blocked the ‘Bows 5-0, but UH got at least two kills from every hitter, including Kaufman who was 3-for-4.
Buoyed by their success, the Rainbow trailed just once in the next set, at 3-4. Stephanie Brandt served UH into a 6-4 lead with the first point coming on Hawai‘i’s initial block, by setter Mafua.
Soon after, Mafua and Hewitt stuffed Paz. The Wolverines’ most prolific attacker who had three kills and four errors after the second set.
Hawai‘i pulled ahead 19-16 on Mafua’s ace — the ‘Bows’ third of the set. Michigan called time, scored a point, but then lost three in row on with Kaufman serving.
The Wolverines called their last timeout at 22-17 and it was over a few minutes later on Ferrell’s sixth kill. All three UH hitters had six kills in the first two sets, while middles Kaufman and Hewitt were a combined 8-for-10.
Danielson took over the third set, flying over the Wolverines for five of her kills as Hawai‘i never trailed.
In Thursday’s other semifinal, 11th-seeded Minnesota (28-8) will play second-seeded Texas (28-1).

OTHER REGIONALS

Penn State, Texas and Minnesota advanced today to the NCAA Women's Volleyball final four in Tampa.

No. 1 Penn State (36-0) ousted Cal (21-11), 25-18, 25-17, 25-22. Penn State will be going for its third consecutive title.

Texas (28-1) defeated host Nebraska (26-7), 21-25, 25-18, 25-16, 25-17.

Minnesota (28-8) defeated Florida State (31-3) by scores of 25-20, 25-7, 18-25, 25-17. It is Minnesota's third Final Four appearance since 2003.