Wahine open cold, finish on fire

The UC Irvine mantra coming into Friday night’s match against Hawaii was “Zot, zot, hot” reflecting the Anteaters’ program-best start of 12-1.

After 2 hours and 15 minutes, it turned into “Zot, zot, not.”

The Rainbow Wahine, getting 13 kills from senior middle Emily Maglio and 12 from junior McKenna Granato, won their 20th consecutive Big West volleyball home match 18-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-21. A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,590 saw sophomore setter Norene Iosia add her fourth straight double-double (42 assists, 12 digs) and senior libero Savanah Kahakai had 24 of the team’s 62 digs as Hawaii (7-5, 1-0) ran its record over the Anteaters to 37-0.

It was anything but easy. There were plenty of nervous moments.

“Nervous moments, yes, but more like hair-pulling moments,” Wahine coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said. “I don’t know what motivates these girls, but (after Set 1) I told them that we were giving the other team points. We needed to take care of what we had to take care of. “I told them that we were going to win in four. And we did.”

The Wahine did it by turning the negatives into positives … literally. Casey Castillo and Granato, Hawaii’s two left-side hitters, had one kill each with a combined six errors and 22 swings in Set 1.

Castillo didn’t commit another error the rest of the match, finishing with 10 kills, and Granato steadied out with 11 kills over the final three sets. Maglio was untouchable, with no errors on 28 swings, and was in on six of the team’s 11 blocks.

“I felt I had a slow start and that I needed to pick it up after halftime,” said Maglio, who had three kills before intermission.

Hawaii has a quick turnaround, hosting UC Davis tonight at 7. The Aggies (8-6, 0-1) were swept by visiting Cal Poly on Tuesday.

“Our bodies will be ready,” Castillo said. “We’ve played three nights in a row earlier. It will be mental.”

It will be about focus, something the Wahine lacked early Friday night.

After scoring the first point of the match, Hawaii was chasing the rest of Set 1. UCI, the top serving team in the conference, had three aces and led by as many as nine, 12-3.

The Wahine pulled to within 21-18 but no closer as the Anteaters closed it with four points on a kill by junior hitter Haley DeSales, a missed set by Iosia and two hitting errors by Castillo.

Ah Mow-Santos pulled her team into the tunnel prior to Set 2 and the Wahine pulled out of their collective funk. Castillo had five kills with no errors on seven attempts and Hawaii led for good at 5-4 on one of Granato’s four kills in the set.

“I told them very, very nicely that they needed to get their act together,” Ah Mow-Santos said.

Hawaii changed things up, swapping freshman middles — Sophia Howling for Sky Williams — and its serving substitutions, with senior hitter Kendra Koelsch and Castillo both staying in to serve rather than giving way to a defensive specialist.

“It’s nothing that anyone was doing wrong,” Ah Mow-Santos said. “Sometimes you need to change when the other team is getting used to what you’re doing. I think it worked.

“Irvine played awesome, their libero (senior Luna Tsujimoto) was playing the entire court. You think the ball was down and nope, and down, and nope.”

Tsujimoto finished with 23 of UCI’s 67 digs. DeSales finished with a match-high 17 kills and junior middle Idara Akpakpa and junior opposite Harlee Kekauoha each had 11.

The Anteaters, leading the conference in aces, had four, three coming in Set 1. The Wahine had five, two each by Granato and Castillo.

Granato also passed the 500-kill mark Friday, her 12 kills giving her 502 in her career.

After controlling Set 3, Hawaii had to rally in Set 4 to avoid a fifth five-setter. Down 16-11, Castillo had two aces in a 5-0 spurt that tied it at 16.

Kills by Granato and Koelsch and an ace by Granato put the Wahine ahead for good at 23-19.