Wahine get wild win over Arizona

Oh ye of little faith.

It wasn’t just that No. 6 Hawaii dropped the first two sets against Arizona during Sunday’s Chevron Invitational finale at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Rainbow Wahine were down 8-2 in the deciding Set 5.

“I wasn’t nervous about it,” UH sophomore hitter McKenna Granato said. “Even though we were down, I felt that we had the momentum.

“I wasn’t too worried.”

Unlike the partisan crowd of 4,034 which went through a nail-biting 2 hours and 44 minutes, Granato coolly put down eight of her career-high 33 kills in the fifth set as Hawaii pulled out an improbable 15-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-19, 15-13 win over the Wildcats. The victory prevented the Wahine from their first 0-3 start since 1980 and “as I told the team after, this was a critical win for us,” Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said.

“It was one of the most unlikely matches I’ve ever been involved in. I can’t remember the last time we had four freshmen out there. But we took some unbelievably quality swings, high out-of-system balls. They didn’t have any fear. It was amazing to watch.”

Coming up huge with critical kills at the end were freshmen hitters Kirsten Sibley and McKenna Ross. Ross, a walk-on recruited to play back row, put down all three of her attempts in Set 5, finishing with seven in her collegiate debut.

While Granato came of age — the most kills since All-American Emily Hartong’s 33 against Long Beach State in 2012 — so did freshman setter Norene Iosia. After the Wahine started out in a 6-2 — with senior setter Tayler Higgins alternating with Iosia the first set — Iosia finished out the last four sets solo.

“Oh my God, this felt amazing,” she said. “There was a different energy this game than in our last two. Everyone played for each other. We really wanted to win this.

“After the second game we were in the locker room and Nikki (injured senior hitter Taylor) was talking about how the injured players couldn’t play, that we had to play for them. And Vanah (junior libero Savanah Kahakai) really motivated us.

“At 8-2 we all looked at each other and said, ‘We … got … this.’ ”

Kahakai, the only Wahine on the all-tournament team, finished with 23 digs, nine in Set 5.

Junior middle Emily Maglio added 12 kills.

Arizona was led by senior Kalei Mau (Kaiser) who ended with 21 kills and 19 digs. Junior middle McKenna Jacobson had 12 kills and was in on five of the team’s blocks.

Hawaii will take today off before preparing for the Hawaiian Airlines Classic that starts Thursday. In the field are Missouri State, Pacific and No. 12 UCLA.

In Sunday’s opener, No. 4 Wisconsin (3-0) defeated Kansas State (2-1) to claim the tournament title, 25-18, 25-15, 25-20.

“Hopefully we’ll get Nikki (Taylor) back this week and that will solve a lot of our problems,” Shoji said. “Starting 0-3 … this was critical for us to win. It will help our RPI and it gives us hope.”

After going down 8-2 at the changeover, Hawaii began to chip away. Kills by Granato and Ross helped close the gap to 8-7.

Sibley’s kill tied it at 9 and, after three ties, the Wahine took their first lead at 13-12 on a kill by Granato. Kendra Dahlke tied it for the fifth and final time. Granato’s final kill gave Hawaii match point and sophomore middle Casey Castillo ended the comeback with her sixth kill.

Hawaii finished with a 74-63 edge in digs. Freshman Emma Smith had 10.

Wisconsin 3, Kansas State 0

The top two finishers took early flights and, along with them, a couple of trophies. Led by senior All-American setter Lauren Carlini, who was named the Most Outstanding Player, the Badgers (3-0) swept the Wildcats (2-1).

Molly Haggerty, a freshman hitter, led Wisconsin with 14 kills and junior hitter Lauryn Gillis had 10 kills.

All-Tournament

Wisconsin: Lauren Carlini (MOP), Haleigh, Tionna Williams

Kansas State: Katie Brand, Brooke Sassin.

Hawaii: Savanah Kahakai.

Arizona: Kalei Mau.