INDIANAPOLIS -- Conquering her emotions, Hawaii's Suzanne Eagye doomed Stanford to its third frustration in the last four years.
'Dave (Shoji, Hawaii coach) has gotten me to mellow out,' Eagye said Saturday night after leading the Rainbow Wahines to the NCAA women's volleyball championship. 'Everything used to be emotion. Now I'm thinking. I had my most successful game because it was a combination of the two.'
The 6-foot-3 middle blocker dominated the title match, scoring the winning points in three games for a 15-10, 15-10, 9-15, 15-1 triumph in Market Square Arena. Stanford, 27-9, finished second for the third time in the last four seasons, and has appeared in the last six finals.
'It was our greatest blocking match without a question,' said Shoji of the Rainbow Wahines, 37-2. 'Usually, we will not score points on the block. It's a defensive block designed to slow the ball down. Suzanne took over when they tried to go cross-court.'
Eagye blocked 13 shots and made 10 kills to frustrating the Cardinal.
Emotions were especially high for the Rainbow Wahines after John Waihee, Hawaii's governor, flew to Indianapolis for the title match and presented the team with maile, a Hawaiian looped vine similar to a lei.
Hawaii's dominating net play was too much for the Cardinal's experience to overcome.
'They did a better job at the net and blocking. They seemed to be everywhere,' Cardinal Coach Don Shaw said. 'They wouldn't let us get our offense together. They weren't going over our blocks, they were going through us.'
Hawaii received 21 kills from Teee Williams, a sophomore sidelined by Proposition 48 last uear. She joined Eagye, teammate Diana Jessie and Stanford seniors Teresa Smith, Nancy Rush and Wendi Reno on the All Tournament Team.
'You have to think this is one of the greatest volleyball teams of all time with their record and what they've accomplished,' said Shoji, whose teams also won NCAA titles in 1982 and 1983. 'I would rate them with our other championship teams.
'The difference is, this team had to work a lot harder from when they came in. This team struggled a lot to get where they are. The seniors spent three frustrating years not getting here. They've felt the heat. They were determined to turn things around.'
Shoji was concerned after Stanford won the third game of the match because the Cardinal was known for comebacks all season.
'I just felt like we regrouped and blocked a little better,' he said. 'I just told them we need to be patient. We rushed things a little bit. I told them we had to slow down and think about assignments.
'I didn't want to let the match slip through our fingers. We've seen them come back. After losing the third game, the team just got really fired up. We were determined to win that fourth game.'
Stanford set team tournament records for kills with 346, kill attempts with 881 and digs with 394.
