Revived Wahine wipe out Cal Poly

It was a night to celebrate, from the 20th anniversary of the Stan Sheriff Center to the return to winning ways.

Playing at home for the first time in 20 days, Hawaii snapped a two-match losing skid against a very young Cal Poly squad that started four freshmen and a sophomore Friday night.

Junior hitter Tai Manu-Olevao put down 15 kills and senior middle Kalei Adolpho served the final five points of a match the Rainbow Wahine took 93 minutes to sweep, 25-17, 25-18, 25-22.

The win lifted Hawaii (13-5, 5-2 Big West) into a tie for second in the conference standings with UC Davis; the Aggies stunned host Cal State Northridge in five earlier Friday.

The Mustangs (7-11, 2-6), got eight kills each from sophomore Taylor Gruenewald and Caihla Petiprin, losing their fourth straight and seventh of the past nine.

All of Hawaii’s conference wins have come via sweeps. The Wahine’s fifth was anything but easy and reminiscent of their come-from-behind victory against UC Irvine in their last home match, when they scored seven straight to pull it out.

Friday night, Hawaii trailed 22-19 in Set 3 when a dump shot by sophomore setter Tayler Higgins put Adolpho on the service line at 22-20. She never left, with the Wahine using two blocks, a Cal Poly hitting error and kills by Magill and Manu-Olevao to finish it off.

Adolpho, who had served only once all season coming into the match, said coach Dave Shoji told her to be prepared to serve.

"I knew I needed to stay composed and not have an error," said Adolpho, who added a season-high five digs and a perfect 6-for-6 in hitting.

"It was fun watching her serve," added Magill, who finished with nine kills with one error and was in on five of the team’s seven blocks. "The middles always practice serving, so we’re ready to go in.

"We played as a team tonight and that felt good."

Hawaii will practice Saturday before hosting UC Santa Barbara in a key match Sunday at 4 p.m. The Wahine will be without Manu-Olevao, who will sit out due to religious beliefs.

Shoji said he’ll use Saturday’s practice to determine a lineup.

"I think the best thing about tonight was that Magill looked sharp early and took over late," he said. "The worst thing was we got in trouble and got behind late (in Set 3). We can’t afford those kinds of lapses.

"At 22-19, I was just hoping we could make something happen. We had prepared to have (Adolpho) serve. We had planned to use double subs and had to conserve our subs. Our middles, bless their hearts, take a lot of reps for almost no action. Kalei didn’t miss a serve. She came up big for us — oddly enough it was on the defensive end."

Hawaii survived poor serving (6 errors) in Set 1 to win going away. Magill put down all six of her attempts and freshman Kalei Greeley added four of her 11 as the Wahine used a 4-0 service run by Manu-Olevao to take control at 17-12.

Down 0-2, Cal Poly found some rhythm in Set 3, helped by Gruenewald moving back to her natural position of middle after playing the first two sets on the outside. The Mustangs led most of the way, reaching 20 points for the first time in eight sets against the Wahine when Petiprin made it 20-18.

A sweep was in doubt when Cal Poly extended the lead to 22-19. Higgins put down her second kill, then teamed with Magill on consecutive blocks to help Hawaii take the lead for good at 23-22. Kills by Magill and Manu-Olevao sent the turnstile crowd of 4,908 home happy.

The match saw the return of freshman defensive specialist Savanah Kahakai, who had been out since Sept. 17 with a sprained knee. Hawaii also had an anxious moment when sophomore Nikki Taylor retweaked her injured right elbow early in Set 1; she returned in Set 2 and finished with three kills.

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 — Cal Poly 2 (Greisen, Gorman). Hawaii 3 (Higgins 2, Manu-Olevao). Service errors — Cal Poly 8 (Kessler 3, Niemen 2, Gorman 2, Roach). Hawaii 10 (Manu-Olevao 3, Higgins 2, Greeley 2, Taylor, Kahakai, Ponce). Assists — Cal Poly 27 (Nelson 26, Kessler). Hawaii 45 (Higgins 39, Koelsch 2, Kahakai 2, Magill, Mendoza). T — 1:33. A — 4,908. Referees — Kevin Cull, Ernie Ho.