Their first collegiate volleyball season is going quickly for Hawaii freshmen Norene Iosia and Kirsten Sibley. The pair have had a major impact so far on the 13th-ranked Rainbow Wahine, with Iosia starting the past 11 matches and Sibley having significant time on the outside for all but the two matches she missed due to illness.

Their successful on-the-job training has helped Hawaii (10-4, 3-0 Big West) to extend its conference winning streak to 24 heading into today’s home contest with UC Riverside (5-8, 0-1). Midway through the regular season, the roommates have more than put their high school and club days behind them.

“It’s definitely a faster pace game and the girls are a lot taller,” the 6-foot-2 Sibley said. “In club, we had good competition, but it’s nothing compared to this next level.

“The block is bigger and I know I have to hit smarter, hit higher and harder.”

Sibley was thrown into the front row earlier than expected. She’s been replacing junior hitter Kalei Greeley, whose rehab from offseason shoulder surgery has been slower than expected and has limited her to mostly back-row passing duties.

Sibley tied for match-high kill honors in Friday’s sweep of Cal State Fullerton with nine, hitting .368, with two block assists.

While the Wahine expect to face an opponent today that was similar to the one on Friday, they would like to improve in several areas against the Highlanders. The push on Iosia is to get her middle blockers more involved.

“We’ve been pin-dominant,” Iosia said of her outside hitters, also known as pin hitters. “Been going to McKenna (sophomore hitter Granato), Sibs (Sibley) and Nikki (senior opposite Taylor).

“The coaches have been preaching to me to get the middles more involved. It’s been an adjustment for me, going from where we used to run the sets low and fast. But with taller girls, I have to lift the ball more. There’s been some struggles for me, but I’m slowly progressing.”

With the Wahine middles ranging in size from 6-foot-3 (senior Annie Mitchem, junior Emily Maglio and sophomore Casey Castillo) to 6-5 (freshman Natasha Burns), they should have been able to take more of an advantage on Friday against the Titans’ much smaller block (tallest player was sophomore middle Summer Kerins, listed at 6-1).

“Our middles should have been open all night,” Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. “Norene has to make an adjustment, needs to get that ball as high as she can. Our middles are 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, 6-5. We need to use that.”

As for UC Riverside, “there’s always concerns,” he said. “I’d like us to take better care of the ball (than Friday), we could have passed a little better. But it is hard to look sharp all the time when the game is not close.”

The Highlanders opened conference play on Sept. 24 with a 3-1 loss at Cal State Fullerton. UCR won five Big West matches last season, the most for the program since joining the conference in 2001. The Highlanders were a D-I independent in 2000 while transitioning from the D-II level.

Note

Taylor and Maglio did not participate in Saturday’s practice. Shoji said he was “resting” the two. Maglio played in the first two sets on Friday, finishing with seven kills and four block assists. Taylor had eight kills, the first time she did not have 10 or more since putting down seven at CSUN last year, ending a streak of 18 straight with double digits. She also had an ace, extending that streak to 12 matches with at least one ace, including all 11 contests she has played this year.