Rainbow Wahine seniors can hear the clock ticking

The “last of the lasts” is an every day occurrence for six Hawaii seniors as their collegiate volleyball careers wind down.

For Rainbow Wahine outside hitter Casey Castillo, “it is pretty surreal, there’s just more and more lasts coming up,” she said. “With the season down to just months, you’re appreciating every day. It’s like a countdown every time I turn around.”

That clock continues for Hawaii, which left Wednesday for California, the last time that Castillo and five other seniors will play at UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. But it goes beyond the final trek to Goleta and San Luis Obispo, beyond the final time that Castillo will play against former Wave club mates Annie Hasselmann (UCSB) and Katherine Brouker (Cal Poly).

These two matches comprise the third week of the “first to the first” … the first step of Hawaii trying to get a grip on first place in the Big West. The Rainbow Wahine (8-5, 4-0) are a game ahead of the Gauchos (12-6, 4-2), their opponent on Friday, and a half-game behind the 13th-ranked Mustangs (15-1, 5-0), Saturday’s foe.

“Road trips are always tough but this one is going to be even more tough,” senior hitter McKenna Granato said. “They are at the top of the league and we know we have to pick up our game, do a lot better job this week (than last).

“The key to both will be our serving. It’s about getting them out of system, making them predictable. We have to serve them off the court and find ways to score.”

While it might be easy to look past Friday’s match with UCSB to Saturday’s showdown with Cal Poly, the Wahine know it is first things first. And first up are the Gauchos inside the larger Thunderdome; the teams played in the smaller Robertson Gym last season.

UCSB warmed up for Hawaii’s visit with a 25-20, 27-25, 25-17 sweep of Cal State Northridge on Tuesday. Junior hitter Lindsey Ruddins, second nationally in kills and points, had 15 kills, 10 digs and five aces against the Matadors.

The story of the night, however, was the performance of reigning conference defensive player of the week Emilia Petrachi. The senior libero finished with 15 digs, her eighth of which gave her the program’s all-time dig record.

While Hawaii will be UCSB’s second match of the week, UH is the only team on Cal Poly’s plate. The Wahine are looking for their 10th straight victory over the Gauchos, dating back to 2013, and seeking to end a two-match slide against the Mustangs and give coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos her first career victory over Cal Poly.

“Two different types of teams,” Ah Mow-Santos said. “Serving is always a key but we still have to work on that. What good is it to get them out of system with our serves if we don’t convert those out-of-system balls.

“I’m looking for consistency. The team has been so up-down, up-down. Can they do it (win both this week)? Yes. But not if we can’t be consistent. Not if we’re hitting like we did.”

In Saturday’s sweep of UC Riverside, Hawaii hit .184 with 19 attack errors, many unforced. The Wahine can’t perform like that in either match this week or it could mean hopes of a Big West title have already disappeared.