Rainbow Wahine start road trip, sweep Fullerton

FULLERTON, Calif. >> Hawaii began its first road trip of the women’s volleyball season by setting service records at the team’s virtual home away from home.

The Rainbow Wahine set a school record with 17 aces — including a career-high six by McKenna Granato — and needed only 1 hour and 28 minutes to dispatch Cal State Fullerton 25-8, 25-9, 25-16 on Friday night at Titan Gym.

The 17 aces fell four shy of the Big West Conference’s single-match record of 21 set by San Diego State against Long Beach State in 1987.

UH (9-3, 3-0) used its seventh consecutive victory to stay half a game behind first-place Cal Poly while remaining tied for second with Cal State Northridge and maintaining its undefeated status in Fullerton. The Wahine have won all 21 matches at Titan Gym and all 37 in the series.

In dominating Fullerton (4-12, 0-4), the Wahine generated the consistent concentration they were missing earlier this year.

“I think this was a very important match for us,” assistant coach Angelica Ljungqvist said. “We were able to come out strong. We’ve had a tendency to get off to a slow start, but the girls were ready to go from the first point. We were focused from the first point to the last point.”

The fact that UH’s opposition never defeated the Wahine made no difference to Ljungqvist.

“It really doesn’t matter,” she said. “This is a new season and every team is new every year. We always know it’s hard to come here and play. That’s why we’re excited they came out strong tonight.”

UH began taking control after the Titans took their only lead of the match. Tyler Fezzey pounded a kill from the right side put the hosts ahead 1-0.

With the score tied 2-2 in the first set, the Wahine began accelerating. Offensively, sophomore setter Norene Iosia compiled 11 of her 28 assists as she fed senior middle Emily Maglio for seven kills and freshman middle Sophia Howling for three while enabling UH to hit .778 for the set.

Meanwhile, Granato and junior hitter Casey Castillo each had two of UH’s five aces, which helped hold Fullerton to a .143 percentage in the set.

Set 2 belonged to Granato, who accumulated three kills, four digs, a block assist and four aces — including three in succession, part of eight aces the Wahine collected.

“She’s very accurate in where she wants to put it,” Ljungqvist said concerning Granato’s float-jump serve with no rotation.

That serve sabotaged the Titans’ offense, which hit .080 for Set 2. Fullerton entered the match last in the Big West in hitting percentage (.148), kills (606), kills per set (10.82) and assists (563) while leading the conference in hitting errors (320).

“I try to get a pop on it so it floats and it’s hard to track,” Granato said. “For me, it’s all about the toss, leading yourself so that way, the ball’s in front of you and you can get up and get a good stroke on the ball. If it’s behind you, it’s hard to get that floating effect.

“If I have a consistent toss, then my serve is fairly OK.”

Granato became the 10th player in UH history to compile six aces in a match. Emily Hartong was the last to do so in 2011 against Wichita State. Amber Kaufman set the record of 11 aces in 2008.

The Titans provided their most serious resistance in the third set, when they drew within 12-8. But UH responded with a 5-0 surge that resulted in a 17-8 lead. Reserve setter Faith Ma’afala contributed a quick set and a tip, and Fullerton provided points on a service error and a hitting error.

Maglio finished with a match-high 14 kills with no hitting errors as the Wahine hit .494. Both of Hawaii’s hitting errors came in Set 2.

Castillo added a career-high three aces and senior libero Savanah Kahakai had 13 digs to move within four of tying former All-American Kanoe Kamana’o (1,220), who ranks sixth in career digs.

Fezzey led Fullerton with seven kills. The Titans hit just .143 for the match.