Payback!

Two down and tonight to go.

Hawaii avenged its second Big West volleyball loss Friday, flattening UC Davis 25-19, 25-17, 25-19 before a Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,440.

The 12th-ranked Rainbow Wahine (21-4, 10-3) have won their past five since falling at Davis. They evened the score against UC Santa Barbara in their previous match.

Tonight, they get a shot at Cal State Northridge on Senior Night. The Matadors beat Hawaii in five on the mainland and are currently in first at 12-2.

"There is a lot riding on this," said senior setter Mita Uiato, ticking off conference, RPI and postseason possibilities.

Friday was also a must-win. The Wahine saw it as a must-sweep.

"We went into this match looking for revenge because we were very disappointed," Uiato said.

"We had a lot of motivation not just to beat them, but to beat them."

"They were playing really well, they just couldn’t score," Shoji said. "We just managed a few more transition balls. I didn’t think that was a one-sided match. The scores made it look easy, but trust me it wasn’t easy."

Hawaii All-American Emily Hartong had a match-high 15 kills, moving past Tita Ahuna into ninth on the UH career list with 1,312. In stark contrast to the last match with Davis, she got lots of help offensively.

It started with Hawaii’s passing, which was pitiful in the teams’ previous two-hour-plus slugfest. This time the Wahine were aced just twice — eight fewer than at Davis.

"The passing was much better," said Uiato. "I could just set anybody I wanted. We do have two back-row attackers now too, not just one. That’s added a lot, but good passing opened up our whole offense."

The Wahine had just 12 errors, out-hitting the Aggies by more than 150 points.

In the opening set, freshman Nikki Taylor, now playing all six rotations, had five kills without a mistake. She cooled in the second but finished with 11 kills and six digs.

"I’m either really smart or really dumb for not having done it earlier," Shoji said of Taylor’s new role. "She has given us an added dimension.

"She’s been making defensive plays, which for somebody her size is just an added bonus, but Mita loves to backset and that just puts Nikki in a really good position. The block now has to play honest and can’t stack over on Hartong. It’s really opened up our offense."

Wahine seniors Courtney Lelepali, Ali Longo, Kristiana Tuaniga, Kaela Goodman, Ashley Kastl, Uiato and Hartong will be honored after tonight’s match.

Notes
UH athletics’ Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, in conjunction with the American Red Cross, will be collecting monetary donations for "Rainbows for the Philippines," to help with disaster relief for victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan. Members of Hawaii teams will be helping to collect the donations at tonight’s volleyball match (from 6 to 8 p.m.) and Friday’s basketball doubleheader (4 to 8 p.m.).

The Aggies (14-14, 6-9) have lost five straight. They hit .173 Friday — their best percentage in the last four matches.

"Maybe we were a one-hit wonder," UCD coach Jamie Holmes said, forcing a grin.

This was not the gritty team that scored her program’s greatest upset less than a month ago.

"I would say my team is a lot different, we just never put ourselves in position to be successful," Holmes said. "You know it’s a never a good night when you’re rotating outside hitters as much as I was.

"Bad coaching choice, good coaching choice … I just wanted somebody who could keep the ball in the court."

UH coach Dave Shoji’s team trailed for only a couple of minutes — early in the second set — but he never felt comfortable. The Aggies kept digging balls, as they had before. But this time they couldn’t find an attack. Senior Devon Damelio had a third of their kills (13) and pretty much all their offensive success.