The roller-coaster ride that has been Hawaii volleyball this season came off the rails on Friday night in San Luis Obispo, Calif., taking a dangerous drop that could mean the end of the Rainbow Wahine’s postseason hopes.
For a fifth time this year, Hawaii could not finish when pushed to a fifth set. The 23-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-18, 17-15 loss to No. 23 Cal Poly all but pushed the Wahine (15-7, 9-2) out of Big West title contention, dropping them a full game behind the Mustangs (21-2, 11-0) in the standings.
Most sobering is that, even if Hawaii wins its remaining five matches and notches a 20-win season, it might not be enough for an NCAA at-large berth. Not with the Wahine at 49 in the Ratings Percentage Index (strength of schedule rankings), not with the Big West having been a one-bid conference as recently as last year.
“I’m not even thinking about the playoffs,” Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said in a telephone call after the match. “Right now it’s just game by game.
“I’m just pissed. I love that our team fights, but we are fighting at the wrong time. If you fight in the beginning, fight every single point, it’s not going to get to five sets. It wouldn’t have gone this long (2 hours, 48 minutes) with playing tomorrow.”
The inequity of the conference schedule has Hawaii playing at UC Santa Barbara tonight (6-15, 5-4), the Gauchos’ lone match of the week. With few exceptions this season, Hawaii is the only match of the week for most of the Big West teams, while the Wahine play back-to-back matches every week.
“It is what it is,” Ah Mow-Santos said. “You have no control. You just play what’s in front of you.”
What was in front of Hawaii was the chance to move into a tie with Cal Poly as well as beat a Top 25 team for the first time since the end of 2014. Instead, the Wahine lost their 10th straight match against a ranked team in addition to losing in the Mott Athletics Center for the first time in 12 visits.
A raucous sold-out crowd (3,032) saw the Mustangs extend their winning streak to 16 and take the conference series from the Wahine for just the second time; the first was in 1985.
It was only the sixth time that Cal Poly defeated Hawaii in 45 meetings. The other five victories came in Honolulu and all six have been in five sets.
Hawaii wasted a career night from senior middle Emily Maglio, who put down 27 kills with just three errors, hitting .381. Maglio’s impressive night included six kills at the end of Set 3 that helped the Wahine rally from down 21-17 to win 25-23.
The other two kills in the 8-2 closing run came from senior Kendra Koelsch, who finished the night with a career-high 14 and hit .308. Junior hitter McKenna Granato also had 14 kills, finishing with her ninth double-double, adding a career-best 19 digs.
Sophomore setter Norene Iosia had her 13th double-double (60 assists-18 digs) and tied her career high with three kills. Senior libero Savanah Kahakai continued to climb up the program’s career digs list, her 18 on Friday moving her past Tara Hittle into fourth place (1,330).
As for Cal Poly, the Mustangs were led by senior hitter Raeann Greisen’s 20 kills. Junior hitter Adlee Van Winden added 17 kills with just one error, and sister Torrey, a sophomore hitter, had 14.
Also in double-figure kills was senior middle Savannah Niemen, who had 11 kills without an error in 19 attempts. Junior libero Katherine Brouker had 28 digs as the Mustangs won the digs battle 92-87. Cal Poly also tied Hawaii, the Big West blocks leader, 8-8 in stuffs.
Serving continued to be the Wahine’s downfall, with 12 errors on Friday, the fifth match in a row with 10 or more. Three came in the critical Set 5, the last tying it at 13.
Note
Hawaii has only missed the postseason once, that in an injury-plagued 15-12 campaign in 1992 when the NCAA field was 32 teams.