Hawaii gets big block

The Anteaters’ cheer long has been "Zot Zot."

For a good portion of Saturday night’s match, all UC Irvine kept hearing was "Block Block."

No. 24 Hawaii showed the stuff that has the Rainbow Wahine leading the Big West in blocks — third nationally — in putting up a wall against UCI. Led by junior middle Olivia Magill’s seven blocks and six by sophomore hitter Nikki Taylor, Hawaii finished with 12.5 in running its winning streak to seven via a 25-17, 25-19, 26-24 sweep of the Anteaters at the Stan Sheriff Center.

It was the sixth consecutive straight-sets victory for the Rainbow Wahine, keeping Hawaii (12-3, 4-0) unbeaten atop the Big West volleyball standings Hawaii now has won 21 sets in a row dating back to the 3-1 win over San Francisco in which the Wahine dropped the opening set to the Dons.

Hitting 21 came with an exclamation point — a triple block by Taylor, freshman Kalei Greeley and senior Kalei Adolpho on Allison Lee — as Hawaii rallied from down 21-14 to outscore UCI 12-3 in the final 10 minutes of the 1-hour, 43-minute contest.

The crowd of 5,521 also saw the Wahine hold off three set points when tying at 24 en route to notching the program’s 200th win in Big West play.

"The important thing was we didn’t get down," said junior Tai Manu-Olevao, who finished with a match-high 15 kills, hitting .429. "The crowd was alive at the end. There was no doubt that we could come back. There was so much trust and confidence.

"It is amazing to see how this team has grown. But we still have a lot of work to do."

Taylor turned in her first double-double of the season with 11 kills and 10 digs. Senior libero Sarah Mendoza kept many late rallies alive, finishing with 10 digs.

Senior hitter Lee led the Anteaters with 13 kills, six of those in Set 1. Marisa Bubica, the Big West leader in kill average at 4.19, added 12, half of them in Set 3.

The Wahine ended Set 2 with a bang, breaking away from an 18-18 tie with a 6-0 run that included four blocks, a kill by Magill on a service overpass and one of sophomore setter Tayler Higgins’ three aces. At 24-19, another kill by Magill gave Hawaii a 2-0 lead.

I thought the first two sets were the best we’ve looked all year," Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. "We were playing well all around, Olivia was doing a great job closing on the block.

"At 21-14 (in Set 3) I was thinking maybe if we get one more point then one more point, (UCI) would start to think about it. We started to block better, ran transition and played really good defensively. Sometimes you just never know. Maybe something turns."

It might have turned on another kill by Magill on an overpass. That made it 22-17 and Higgins’ third ace led to a spurt that closed the gap to 22-20.

At 24-21, Cassidy Pickrell served wide, Taylor and Adolpho blocked Bubica and Bubica hit into the net to tie. Taylor’s last kills set up Hawaii’s first match point, the only one it would need when finishing it on the 12th block.

It was deja vu for the Anteaters, who had match point on Cal State Northridge last Saturday at home, leading 14-13 in Set 5. The Matadors scored three straight to win the fifth 16-14.

"I think we got a little tight at the end, tried to do too much," UCI coach Paula Weisoff said. "We needed to relax.

"We knew Hawaii was a good serving and blocking team. And they did just that."

UH ran the series record to 32-0 over UCI.

"It was fun but stressful," Magill said. "I think it shows how much we’ve improved during the season. I don’t know if we could have won (Set 3) earlier.

"That last block was a good way to end it."

BIG WEST VOLLEYBALL

Saturday
Hawaii def. UC Irvine 25-17, 25-19, 26-24
UC Davis def. UCSB 25-21, 25-19, 25-16
Cal Poly def. UC Riverside 25-21, 23-25, 25-23, 25-19
Long Beach State def. CSUN 25-20, 25-16, 20-25, 25-22
UC Davis def. UCSB 25-21, 25-19, 25-16

Friday
Hawaii at Cal State Northridge
Cal Poly at Cal State Fullerton
UC Santa Barbara at UC Irvine
NO. 25 HAWAII DEF. UC IRVINE 25-17, 25-19, 26-24

ANTEATERS (10-7, 0-3)

RAINBOW WAHINE (12-3, 4-0)

Key — s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d: digs; bs: block solo; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills plus blocks plus aces). Service Aces — UCI 3 (Lee, Pickrell, Hakim). Hawaii 9 (Higgins 3, Taylor 3, Manu-Olevao 2, Mendoza). Service errors — UCI 7 (Pickrell 2, Lee, Yoder, Rosenfeld, Davis, Hakim). Hawaii 12 (Greeley 3, Higgins 2, Taylor 2, Manu-Olevao 2, Huff, Mendoza, Ponce). Assists — UCI 33 (Anderson 31, Yoder, Hakim). Hawaii 37 (Higgins 32, Koelsch 2, Manu-Olevao, Greeley, Mendoza). T — 1:43. A — 5,521. Referees — Jesse Martinez, Wayne Lee.