UH doubles trouble for UC Riverside

Three weeks ago, Hawaii needed a reverse sweep to turn back UC Riverside, rallying for a five-set Big West volleyball win at the SRC. Friday night, it was a traditional sweep for the Rainbow Wahine, with senior Emily Maglio handling the broom and the boom.

The senior middle matched her uniform number with a career-high 19 kills, her 15th match in double digits, as Hawaii ran its record against UCR to 23-0 via a 25-22, 25-12, 25-18 victory. Maglio also was in on seven of 11 blocks for a career-high 23 points for the Rainbow Wahine (14-6, 8-1), who have a quick turnaround as they host Cal State Fullerton (4-16, 0-8) at 7 tonight.

“It’s been something I’ve wanted to do, it would mean a career high,” Maglio said of the 19 kills. “It was nice being back in the ‘Stan’ with our fans.

“Everyone was a lot more focused (than the last meeting with UCR). There were a lot of good digs, good passes. We’ve been working on that, making sure there were no easy tips.”

A crowd of 4,220 watched for 100 minutes as junior hitter McKenna Granato turned in her eighth double-double (13 kills-13 digs) and senior defensive specialist Clare- Marie Anderson finished with a career-high 11 digs. Senior libero Savanah Kahakai added 10 digs for her 16th match in double figures this season and is seven away from 1,300 for her career.

Hawaii also hit double digits in service errors for the third consecutive match, with 12 Friday night. The Wahine had a combined 33 in two road matches last week.

“We’re working on that,” Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said of cutting down the errors. “We want them to be aggressive, find a rhythm and a routine.

“What I did like tonight was our blocking. We didn’t want to get tooled like we did there.”

Hawaii, which had five blocks on Sept. 30 against UCR, had five in Set 1 alone. The Wahine were cruising early, leading by as much as 12-5 and 17-10, before the unforced errors caught up with them. Three hitting errors, a net violation and three of the five services in the set helped the Highlanders tie at 20.

At 21-20, Maglio took over, accounting for Hawaii’s last four points with two block assists and two kills. She continued to dominate in Set 2, adding another six kills and three block assists, and Hawaii broke away at 13-9. UCR was outscored 12-3 after that, two of the Highlanders’ points coming on Wahine service errors.

The Highlanders, the top digging team in the Big West, stayed in the match with defense, with 20 of their 61 digs coming in Set 3. UCR led 7-5 before the Wahine used a 4-0 run to take the lead for good at 9-7.

The Highlanders made a late run, rallying from 21-14 to 23-18. The Wahine ended that with Maglio’s last kill and sophomore middle Natasha Burns’ sixth kill.

The highlight of Set 3 may have been Maglio staying in the back row to serve on match point and having a dig. The final 30 minutes also saw Kahakai collide with sophomore hitter Kirsten Sibley at 18-12 when both were going after a ball; Sibley sat out the remainder of the match and was going to be evaluated by medical staff.

“I think we were more focused tonight, took care of our assignments better than when we played them the last time,” Granato said. “It was good to be home.”

The Highlanders (9-11, 1-7), who have not won a set in seven road matches, got six kills from sophomore hitter Mickayla Sherman and a double-double from junior setter Chelsea Doyle (21 assists-10 digs). Junior hitter Kaiulani Ahuna (Kamehameha-Hawaii) had five kills in playing the first two sets, and freshman libero Nicole Rodriguez finished with a match-high 20 digs.