Hawaii sweeps Idaho to continue streak

Hawaii showed Thursday why it’s ranked No. 11 in the nation.

Sarah Mason finished with 19 kills as the Rainbow Wahine inched closer to the triple-figure mark by winning their 97th consecutive Western Athletic Conference match, a 30-24, 30-22, 30-18 sweep of Idaho in the Memorial Gym in Moscow, Idaho.

Mason, who finished with a .308 hitting percentage, was bolstered by Juliana Sanders (14 kills; .550 attack percentage) and Victoria Prince (11; .429; six blocks) as Hawaii hit .322 as a team and improved to 12-6, 6-0.

Idaho, led by Amanda Bowman’s nine kills and Haley Larsen and Erin Curtis’ eight kills and five blocks, never hit better than .158 in a game and finished with an .097 attack percentage in falling to 10-9, 2-4.

•Konae Purcell finished with 12 kills and a .476 hitting percentage as No. 5 North Idaho swept Dixie State 30-23, 30-25, 30-20 in Scenic West Athletic Conference action at St. George, Utah.

Purcell led a balanced Cardinals attack, as Cintia Alessia chipped in with nine kills and a .389 hitting percentage, Daidre Mendenhall had eight kills and a .294 attack percentage for NIC, Melissa Merchant had seven kills and a .417 hitting percentage and Kayla Mainer also finished with seven kills.

North Idaho (23-4, 3-1) hit .324 as a team, compared to .090 for Dixie State (15-12, 1-3).

The Cardinals also outblocked the Rebels 12-6, with Mendenhall leading the way with eight blocks, and Merchant, Mainer and Purcell all finishing with three.

Cidney Judkins led Dixie State with nine kills, but was held to a negative attack percentage.

•Staci Venski and Bibiana Candelas led a two-pronged attack as No. 17 Southern Cal spanked Washington State 30-14, 30-18, 30-14 in Pacific-10 Conference action in Pullman.

Venski finished with 17 kills and a .571 hitting percentage, and Candelas had 14 kills and a .429 hitting percentage as the Trojans (8-6, 4-2) hit .402 as a team while holding the Cougars (8-11, 1-5) to a .050 attack percentage.

Kelly Rosin was the only one in double-figure kills for WSU, finishing with 10, and Kelly Russell finished with six blocks.

•Candace Lee’s 10 digs moved her into second place on the all-time Pac-10 digs list with 1,702 as No. 2 Washington made short work of No. 22 UCLA, sweeping the Bruins 30-24, 30-18, 30-22 in Seattle.

Christal Morrison finished with 15 kills, a .361 attack percentage and four blocks as the Huskies (15-0, 6-0) hit .305 as a team.

Sanja Tomasevic added 14 kills, a .360 hitting percentage and four blocks for UW, and Alesha Deesing had 10 kills, six blocks and hit .400.

Nana Meriwether led UCLA (9-6, 2-4) with 10 kills and a .300 hitting percentage.