After a week’s worth of worry and nervousness, the University of Hawaii volleyball team could breath easy and celebrate Sunday.
The Wahine are in.
For the second consecutive season they did it the hard way and earned an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament.
Hawaii will open play against No. 25 on Baylor at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in Eugene, Oregon.
It’s the program’s 37th overall and 26th consecutive NCAA appearance.
Hawaii finished second in the Big West at 14-2, while the Bears finished second in the Big 12 with an 11-5 record. Baylor makes their third consecutive NCAA appearance.
Oregon (20-10), the 15th seed, is hosting the first and second rounds and plays New Mexico State (24-7) at 5 p.m. Thursday. The winners meet Saturday.
Stanford earned the top seed followed by No. 2 Minnesota, Illinois secured the third seed, while the BYU rounded out the top four.
UH men fall
Deshon Taylor scored 20 points to lead Fresno State to a 79-64 victory over Hawaii to finish third in the Wooden Legacy in Fullerton, Calif.
The Bulldogs made 11 of 20 from 3-point range (55 percent), with Sam Bittner and Braxton Huggins making three 3s each.
Fresno State was impressive all tournament, having won two of three games. Its only blemish was a heartbreaking loss to Miami in the semifinals on a last-second put-back dunk.
The Bulldogs (3-2) return to Fresno having played well in three consecutive games. Fresno State went on a 12-0 run in the second half to extend its lead to 59-43 and take control.
Jack Purchase scored 14 points and Zigmars Raimo added 13 for Hawaii (4-3), which beat Utah on Thursday and lost Friday to Seton Hall.
Hawaii cut the lead to five points at 45-40 on layup by Raimo early in the second half but that’s as close as Hawaii would get.
Women lose again
Alanna Smith scored a season-high 30 points before No. 8 Stanford’s win against Hawaii was called with 48.2 seconds left when Cardinal guard Anna Wilson got hurt at Stan Sheriff Center.
The junior guard, who is the sister of NFL star Russell Wilson, fell backward and hit a chair while playing defense according to Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. Wilson remained down on the court for about 20 minutes after getting hurt while medical personnel attended to her. They stabilized her neck before being taken away to a hospital.
While she was being treated on the court, the officials and coaches decided to end the game. The Cardinal won the game 81-59 in the Rainbow Wahine Showdown.
Stanford (6-0) trailed for just 24 seconds early on in the contest and led by as many as 25 late.
Smith finished three points shy of her career high in points scored. The 6-foot-4 forward made 12 of her 15 shots from the field, including 3 of 6 on 3-pointers.
Hawaii made 13 of its 22 attempts from beyond the arc, but attempted just two free throws.
Makenna Woodfolk scored 16 points and Courtney Middap added 11 for the Rainbow Wahine (1-6).
Hawaii coach Laura Beeman said she did not see the play that led to Wilson’s injury, but expressed her concern for the Stanford player.
“You never want a player to get injured. I don’t care how the tournament ends up, I don’t care how that game ended, I think it was the right call to end the game,” Beeman said. “Obviously we’re concerned about her safety and that’s all that I can say. We’ll just keep her in our thoughts and prayers and hope that she’s all right.”
Turnovers continue to be a thorn in the side for the Rainbow Wahine, who entered Sunday’s game averaging 17 per game and minus 2.1 in turnover margin. They turned it over 19 times against the Cardinal, who returned the favor 13 times.