A week after two huge letdowns against ranked teams, sixth-ranked Hawai‘i stormed back to beat 10th-ranked Stanford tonight in the championship match of the 15th annual Honolulu Advertiser Volleyball Challenge.

The scores were 27-25, 25-21, 25-22 before a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 6,338.
Senior middle blocker Amber Kaufman had just one block but was phenomenal offensively, with 13 kills in 17 swings. She hit .706, with her only error coming on her final attack. Sophomore Kanani Danielson, often hitting over blockers five inches taller, also had 13 kills and hit .455. The ‘Bows hit ..392 for the night, with freshman Brittany Hewitt going 9-for-12.
Stanford got 14 kills from senior middle Janet Okogbaa, who hit .565.
It was the Rainbow Wahine’s first win over the Cardinal in six years, and only their second in the teams’ last 11 meetings, dating back 18 years. It was also their13th Challenge championship.
The teams met in last year’s regional final, where Stanford smoked the ‘Bows before ultimately falling — for the third straight year — in the NCAA final.
This time it was very different, from the faces to Hawai‘i’s ability to focus. The Rainbows (7-2) lost first-team All-American Jamie Houston off that team and started three underclassmen in the Challenge final. The Cardinal (5-3), holding its lowest ranking since the end of 2005, lost two first-team All-Americans and started four underclassmen.
The opening set was tied 13 times and Hawai‘i didn’t take its first lead until 20-19, in the midst of a 14-7 surge. That’s when it got interesting.
After taking its last timeout down 19-21, the Cardinal scored three in a row, forcing UH to burn its final timeout. Hawai‘i tied it on Kaufman’s fourth kill in as many swings and would get to set point first at 24-23.
Alix Klineman’s fifth kill erased one set point. Aneli Cubi-Otineru, whose serving helped UH rally early, missed her serve on the second. But Klineman returned the miss and freshman Brittany Hewitt buried the winning point when Stanford shanked Stephanie Brandt’s serve.
Brandt was in for the final serve again in the second set. She sent it at Klineman, who passed it off her cheek, leading to a swing for the match by Danielson. A point earlier, the Cardinal dug Danielson with three straight fisted balls before she launched the ball into the ground. This time it took Danielson just one try, as she drilled her 11th kill off Stanford libero Gabie Ailes.
The Rainbows seized control early in this one, riding a Kaufman kill and ace, and one of Danielson’s six kills in the set to a 14-11 advantage. They extended it to 19-14 before the Cardinal came back, getting as close as 23-21.
Hawai‘i rode that momentum into the third set, scoring the first four points and pulling to a 9-4 lead behind their middle attack. Stanford kept rallying but never caught up.
The victory was the 1,000th in the history of Rainbow Wahine volleyball, which started in 1974. Alan Kang coached the first nine wins and Dave Shoji the last 991.
In the third-place match, Texas-San Antonio (4-7) held on to give Weber State (1-9) its seventh straight loss, 25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 27-25. Kendra Rowland collected a double-double (11 kills, 11 digs) for the Roadrunners and Wildcat seniors Chelsea Bair and Jenna Leggatt had 16 kills apiece, with Leggatt adding 10 digs and Bair three aces.

NOTES
Pepperdine, ranked 19th and coming in to play Hawai‘i Friday and Saturday, lost to Army in five last night in Malibu, Calif., to drop to 6-2.