WAC Volleyball Championship Match

We are blogging live from the Championship match of the 2008 WAC Volleyball Tournament in the Stan Sheriff Center on the University of Hawai'i campus in Honolulu, HI.
The two regular season co-champs, top seeded New Mexico State and the second seeded University of Hawai'i will fight for the title of Tournament Champion.

We are just under a minute away from the start of the match.
The University of Hawai'i are visitors in today's match since they are the higher seeded team in today's competition.

Fans are still piling into the arena....I would guess that our attendance is about 5,500.
A number of fans in attendance are waving tea leaves, they are supposed to bring good luck.

We are just seconds away from the first serve and the fans are chanting "Let's Go Bows!"
New Mexico State takes the first point of the set.

We are tied at two a piece.
The Bows lead by two points, 5-3.

7-5, Hawai'i has the lead and the serve.
The Aggies have claimed the last two points and are within one of the Bows.

The UH fans are making plenty of noise in support of their team as they lead the set 12-9.
I have noticed that the UH fan's will cheer for a good play regardless of who scores the point, although they are bit louder when the Bows walk away with the point.

Time out. I had no idea it could get so loud in here!
The Bows now lead by five points, 19-14.

Time out Aggies. The top seeded New Mexico State Aggies are having a bit of trouble out of the gate. They are down seven points in the first set.

The Aggies have walked away with the last two points and are down 18-22.
Match point University of Hawai'i.
Hawai'i takes the first set of the match 25-19.

The second set of the match will begin in about two minutes.

We are into the second set of the tournament and the Aggies are up by two, 15-13.
17-14, Aggies have the serve, Hawai'i gets the point.

The Bows are within one point, 17-16.
The crowd is really getting behind Hawai'i, chanting "Let's Go Bows!".
Hawai'i is down by two points, 19-17.

The Aggies have the lead at 20-19, UH has the serve.
We are now tied at 20!

We are going point for point....Hawai'i gets a point, then New Mexico State responds with a point and vice versa. We are tied at 23 points each.

Match point Hawai'i. Time out New Mexico State.
The Aggies must get a point now in order to stop the Bow's from winning the second set of the match.

Point Aggies! We are tied up at 25! In order to win the set one team has to have a two point advantage over the other team.

27-25 Aggies win. Each team has won one set.

We now have a ten minute intermission.
In order to win the match, the winning team must take three of the five matches.
Since are are tied at one a piece, we will play a minimum of four sets.

The Aggies have the first serve of the match, but the Bow get the first point.
The Aggies are up by two points, 4-2.

Time out Hawai'i. The Aggies lead, 6-2.
The UH Cheerleaders are leading the crowd in a chant of "Rain - Bows".
Since the start of the first set the crowd size has increased! They are really getting into every point scored.

The Bows have received the last two points and are within two of the Aggies.
Aggie serve is out of bounds, the Bows are down by one and have the next serve.

The Bows are behind by one point and have the next serve, 9-8.
Service error by Hawai'i, New Mexico State is up 11-9.

We are now tied at 14.
The Aggies get the next point and lead 15-14.

Time out Aggies. Hawai'i leads 17-15.
Hawai'i has increased their lead to four, 20-16.
Time out Aggies.

The Aggies are awarded the first point after the time out.
Match point Hawai'i.
Hawai'i wins the third match.

If Hawai'i wins the next match they will be the tournament champions. If the Aggies take the next match the fifth and final match will determine the winner of the match.

Hawai'i wins the first two points of the fourth set.
The Aggies have yet to score a point in the fourth set. UH leads 4-0.

Time out New Mexico State.

The Aggies score their first point of the set and are down by four.
The Bows have extended their lead to six.

Hawai'i 9 / New Mexico State 1.

Hawai'i is dominating the set. They now lead by nine.

Time out. UH leads 14-3.

Hawai'i has increased their lead, 21-8.
We have just received the official attendance figures and there are 5,250 fans in attendance.

Match point Hawai'i.
The UH fans are on their feet.

Hawai'i takes the fourth match and are the 2008 WAC Volleyball Tournament Champions.
Looks like the tea leaves worked!

We are just minutes away from the awards ceremony.
Commissioner Karl Benson just handed over the WAC Tournament trophy to the University of Hawai'i.