Wahine outplay Gauchos

Talk. Block. And chalk up a sweep.

It was Hawaii’s version of "uno, dos, adios" Friday night when the Rainbow Wahine opened Big West conference volleyball play with a dominant 97-minute win over UC Santa Barbara at the Stan Sheriff Center. Behind junior hitter Nikki Taylor’s 14 kills, and 10 stuffs by the fifth-best blocking team in the country, 11th-ranked UH swept the Gauchos 25-13, 25-14, 25-19.

A crowd of 5,593 watched as Hawaii (11-1, 1-0) won its sixth consecutive match while handing UCSB (4-8, 0-1) its seventh straight loss.

"It’s cool to start off conference play this way," said junior setter Tayler Higgins, finishing with 35 assists and 12 digs. "I think our team has matured, even since last week. And we’ve been working on our communication.

"It was a matter of us coming out with energy and attitude."

As well as altitude. Hawaii’s middles did not commit a hitting error when rising above the Gaucho block, with sophomore Emily Maglio putting down eight of 13 attempts and senior Olivia Magill six of 21.

Taylor had just one hitting error in 28 swings, that coming in the middle of Set 3 that allowed UCSB to close to 13-10.

"Everyone was focused tonight," Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. "That was not a bad Santa Barbara team … We just played probably our best match of the year. All phases were clicking.

"This was a very important win. We need to establish ourselves in conference and this was a good start. But we don’t have a lot of time to enjoy it."

It will be quick turnaround for Hawaii, which closes out its five-week homestand by hosting Cal Poly (8-3, 0-0) at 7 tonight. This is the Mustangs’ lone match of the week.

"Our motto is ‘pass, serve, win,’ " added sophomore hitter Kalei Greeley. "If we pass well, serve well then we’ll win.

"I think our serve-receive was key. If you’re in system, you can run your offense and we did that. It was a fun game and I’m very proud of our team, starting off really strong. Our offense and defense were both working tonight."

The defense on both teams was stellar, with a combined 101 digs. Gauchos freshman libero Emilia Petrachi had a match-high 19, including seven in the first 20 points of Set 1, and Rainbow Wahine sophomore libero Savanah Kahakai had a team-high 18.

Hawaii started slow in each set, then simply started rolling, getting huge serving runs from nearly everyone in the rotation.

The highlight of Set 1’s 10-1 closing run by UH may have been senior hitter Tai Manu-Olevao’s no-look solo block. The senior turned her back on net on an overpass, stuck up her right hand and blocked Ali Barbeau for set point at 24-13.

Manu-Olevao and Maglio then teamed to stuff Barbeau for Hawaii’s fourth block, setting the tone for the rest of the night.

Maglio tied her career high with six stuffs and Manu-Olevao finished with four to go along with nine kills.

"Maglio is becoming a player right before our eyes," Shoji said. "She’s been patient, we’ve been patient and it’s coming around for her."

The only player not to get in Friday was junior middle Annie Mitchem and "we’re going to need Annie, probably tomorrow," Shoji said. "We had 10 blocks, but we touched a lot of balls. It allowed us to transition well."

Sophomore hitter Chantel Hoffman led UCSB wtih seven kills.

Notes: Watching Friday’s match were three members of the U.S. men’s national team from Hawaii that won the World Cup earlier this week in Tokyo: Kawika and Erik Shoji, and Micah Christenson … Long Beach State coach Brian Gimmillaro won his 800th career match at Long Beach State on Friday night when the 49ers swept UC Davis.

FRIDAY 

NO. 11 HAWAII DEF. UC SANTA BARBARA, 25-13, 25-14, 25-19

NO. 25 LONG BEACH STATE DEF. UC DAVIS 25-11, 25-22, 25-12 

CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE DEF. UC IRVINE 25-18, 26-24, 25-20 

UC RIVERSIDE DEF. CSU FULLERTON, 25-27, 25-10, 25-14, 29-31, 15-10 

TODAY 

CAL POLY AT HAWAII, 7 P.M., STAN SHERIFF CENTER 

UC DAVIS AT CSUN 

UC IRVINE AT LONG BEACH STATE 

NO. 11 HAWAII DEF. UC SANTA BARBARA 25-13, 25-14, 25-19

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 — UCSB 1 (NIELSON). HAWAII 3 (HIGGINS, MANU-OLEVAO, GREELEY). SERVICE ERRORS — CSUB 5 (VILLANUEVA 2, HASSELMANN, HOFFMAN, NIELSON). HAWAII 6 (HIGGINS 2, TAYLOR 2, PONCE, KAHAKAI). ASSISTS — CSUB 29 (NIELSON 16, HASSELMANN 12, HOFFMAN). HAWAII 42 (HIGGINS 35, KOELSCH 3, GREELEY 2, TAYLOR, GUINASSO). T — 1:37. OFFICIALS — BILL FORRESTER, DICKSON CHUN  A — 5,593.