Ah Mow-Santos’ debut as coach ends in a tight loss to Marquette

It wasn’t the season debut No. 20 Hawaii had hoped for. Not with so much on the line as it ushered in the Robyn Ah Mow-Santos coaching era.

The disappointment was in coming so close, pushing to five sets when nothing was going right for two-thirds of Friday’s match with Marquette, and then being unable to finish. In controlling Set 4 but losing control when falling behind 6-0 and 8-3 in the deciding Set 5.

What can the Rainbow Wahine take away from the 24-26, 25-21, 25-18, 18-25, 15-12 loss to the Golden Eagles? They have moments of brilliance, a budding star in freshman middle Sky Williams and a viable option in senior Emily Maglio, who moved from middle to outside in helping the team respond after being down 2-1.

But Hawaii knows it has a lot of work to do beginning with tonight’s match against No. 22 San Diego in the Texaco Invitational.

“Our serve-and-pass game was up and down all game,” Ah Mow- Santos said after the Rainbow Wahine dropped their season opener for a second consecutive year. “We’ve got to pass the ball better.

“It was the little plays at the end — the non-communication on one play, the ball dropping off the net on another — that cost us points. Those little things we need to work on. But there were positives tonight, too.”

As the crowd of 5,334 witnessed, one positive was Williams, impressive in her first collegiate match. The 6-foot-1 middle from Bellflower, Calif., was in on 12 of Hawaii’s 18 blocks.

“Going out I was really nervous,” said Williams, who also had six kills. “The crowd was way more than I expected. I thought it was going to be like a CIF high school game.

“There were times when I couldn’t hear what Maglio was telling me, and she was right next to me. But the crowd felt like love.”

Ah Mow-Santos said she couldn’t fault the effort of her team, particularly when it battled back from deficits of 6-0, 7-1 and 8-3 in the final set. Before the Golden Eagles knew it, Hawaii had tied it up at 12 on sophomore setter Norene Iosia’s third ace of the 2 hour, 37 minute night.

But as happened at the end of Set 3, when UH gave up the final five points, the Wahine gave up three straight. Coming out of the timeout at 12-12, Marquette got the 10th kill from 6-foot-6 junior middle Jenna Rosenthal, 6-5 sophomore hitter Allie Barber’s 22nd kill and the match-ending stuff of Hawaii junior hitter McKenna Granato by Rosenthal and Barber, the Golden Eagles’ 13th block.

Maglio finished with 14 kills for the Wahine and Granato 13 to go along with 11 digs. Senior libero Savanah Kahakai had 17 digs and Iosia had 12 digs and 44 assists.

In Friday’s opener matching two ranked teams, No. 13 UCLA needed just 87 minutes to dispatch No. 22 San Diego, 25-16, 25-12, 25-22. The Bruins (1-0) outblocked the Toreros (0-1) 16-3, including seven in Set 2.

Senior hitter Reily Buechler put down 13 kills with just one error and sophomore middle Madeleine Gates added nine kills and 10 blocks in the Bruins’ sweep.

UCLA spotted USD a 3-0 lead in Set 2 before running away, recording its 10th block when taking a 17-6 lead. At 22-22 in Set 3, Buechler was part of the Bruins’ final three points with two kills and teaming with Gates on a block.

UCLA faces Marquette (0-1) in today’s 4:45 p.m. match, followed by San Diego against Hawaii.

The Golden Eagles (1-0) got 21 kills from sophomore Allie Barber and freshman Hope Werch added 10 for Marquette, making its first trip to Honolulu.

Hawaii made impressive rallies in Sets 1 and 2, successful in the first, not in the second.

Down 21-17 in the opening set, the Wahine went on a 6-0 run behind the serving of Granato, including an ace that put them ahead at 23-22.

An ace by Martha Konovodoff gave the Golden Eagles what would be their only swing at ending it. Kendra Koelsch answered with a tip shot to tie it at 24 and, following a lift call on Werch, Kahakai ended the comeback with an ace.

Hawaii again played catchup in Set 2, down by as many as six at 20-14. With Iosia camped out at the service line, the Wahine went on a 7-0 run that included an ace and Koelsch in on two blocks, putting down a dump shot on two and winning a joust with Barber.

Iosia’s serve went just long, tying it at 22, and Hawaii never got the serve back again, with Lauren Speckman serving it out, tying the match 1-1.

The teams came out of the locker room even, with the third set close through an 8-8 tie, but the Golden Eagles pulled away to 11-8, a lead they never gave up en route to going up 2-1.

Hawaii found an answer by switching Maglio from middle to outside, the senior responding with six kills as the Wahine took control.

Williams continued to impress, her three blocks in Set 4 giving her 11.

Hawaii went down 6-0 in Set 5 before clawing back to tie at 12 on an ace by Iosia. Marquette came out of a timeout to finish it off on a kill by Rosenthal, one by Barber, and Granato being blocked.