Home sweet home

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A week after frustration followed Hawaii all over Southern California in its Big West volleyball return, home soothed the Rainbow Wahine’s soul Thursday against UC Irvine.

In their first BWC home match in 17 years, the eighth-ranked Wahine cruised past the Anteaters, 25-18, 25-11, 25-18. A season-low 3,376 watched at Stan Sheriff Center.

Hawaii (11-2, 4-0 BWC) was hardly flawless, but didn’t have to be. Irvine (7-9, 2-1) hit .090 for the night and never found a way to hurt UH. It was a stark contrast to last week’s five-set struggles at Cal State Northridge and Fullerton.

UH co-captain Emily Maeda pointed to Hawaii’s fans, calling them "a big seventh player."

"The fans give so much energy to us," said Maeda, who collected seven digs while libero Ali Longo added 11. "I think we notice when we’re on the road. We have to be even more vocal."

After they stopped missing serves — and the ninth tie in the opening set — they Wahine rolled the rest of the night. The Anteaters had no answer for Emily Hartong and Jane Croson. When UCI’s block cheated outside, setter Mita Uiato found middles Jade Vorster and Kalei Adolpho.

The Wahine bothered and bewildered Ali Squires, who came in averaging more than four kills a set. She took 19 swings in the first two sets and managed just two kills. She would finish with five, hitting .094.

The block didn’t stuff her — UH had just six roofs — but it did deny her.

"Mita and whoever else was on the right side blocking her set the block really well and the middles closed," Maeda said. "We got a lot of touches off her and made it really easy for us in the back row. I think our block made her hold back … it had a very strong presence tonight."

On the other side of the net, Hawaii was ahead 16-6 and hitting a torrid .800 when Irvine took its last timeout of Set 2, and tried a new setter.

When coach Paula Weishoff — an assistant for the U.S. Olympic team — called her last timeout of the match, the Anteaters trailed 16-8 in the third and were hitting negative .083.

"We let them get their confidence," Weishoff said. "We backed down and they got into a rhythm. We tried to fight back in Game 3, but it wasn’t enough at that point.

"It was their first home match. They found their mojo a little bit."

The Wahine called their only timeout 4 minutes before it was over, when a sloppy streak cut their third-set advantage to 21-17.

"Jane got a little wild at the end," UH coach Dave Shoji said. "She’s got to cut down on her hitting errors."

Croson and Hartong, who leads the Big West in kills, both finished with 14 kills and nine digs. Croson had eight errors, but Hartong, who played on the right the first two sets and left in the third, had just three and hit .355.

"We’re still trying to find our way," Shoji said. "Tonight there were some plays we made we probably didn’t make on the mainland. I’m talking about Adolpho and Vorster. They both made some off plays we need out of the middle and they each made just one hitting error, which is something we need out of them."

It was Hawaii’s 59th consecutive regular-season conference victory, the best in the country.

"They dig a lot of balls," Weishoff said. "They come at you from the back row. Maybe they need to find a leader out there though. They seem together, but if things don’t go as they should who is going to step up? I think Emily is doing a nice job, but I don’t know if she can do it by herself."

Hawaii plays Long Beach State (7-7, 2-1) on Saturday at 7 p.m. The match will only be shown on pay-per-view. The 49ers fell in four at Cal State Northridge Thursday.