Wahine knock off No. 2 Florida

Chomp or be chomped.

And when it comes to a fifth set, it’s anyone’s bite.

For the first time since 2013, it was Hawaii taking a bite out of a ranked team at home. Behind a career-high 27 kills from Nikki Taylor and a never-quit attitude, No. 16 Hawaii came back to upset No. 2 Florida 18-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-17, 15-9 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Senior hitter Tai Manu-Olevao added 16 kills and sophomore hitter Kalei Greeley finished with a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs as the Rainbow Wahine (7-1) snapped a five-match home losing streak against Top 25 teams.

"It feels really good," said Taylor, who added 17 digs. "We just started playing our volleyball, started executing the small things."

As 5,787 watched for 2 hours and 40 minutes, Hawaii improved to 2-0 in the Outrigger Resorts Volleyball Classic. The Wahine can win their second tournament this season when they take on Eastern Washington (4-5) in Saturday’s 7 p.m. finale.

The Gators (5-1) meet the Aztecs (2-5) at 2:30 p.m.

In the opening match, junior middle Baylee Little and sophomore hitter Alexis Cage each put down 11 kills as San Diego State snapped a four-match losing streak with a sweep of Eastern Washington, 25-16, 25-18, 25-15.

"The crowd was nice, but what it came down to was what we were doing," senior middle Olivia Magill said. "We needed a team effort and we got it. Everyone will go to bed happy, but tomorrow is a new day and we have another game."

Hawaii found its game and its tough serve particularly in Set 5. Leading 7-6, junior setter Tayler Higgins went on a 5-0 serving run to put the Wahine in the driver’s seat.

Sophomore setter Kendra Koelsch, seeing the most playing time of her career, was solid in finishing with 27 assists.

Florida, and its All-American-heavy lineup got 19 kills from Alex Holston, 15 from Ziva Recek and 10 from Rhamat Alhassan.

After never quite finding a rhythm in Set 1, the Wahine kept their Set 2 winning streak alive at seven straight with some gritty defense and errorless hitting by Taylor. The junior hitter had six kills with no errors in 14 swings and Hawaii broke what would be the 20th and last tie at 22 with a kill by Manu-Olevao, a block of Gabby Mallette by Taylor and Magill, and Taylor’s 12th kill.

A slow start in Set 3 ultimately proved to be Hawaii’s undoing, as the Wahine quickly fell behind 6-1 and had to play catchup. Hawaii scratched its way to an 8-8 tie, only to have Florida run off three unanswered points to take the lead for good.

The Wahine never got closer than three until holding off the second set point to pull to 24-22. Simone Antwi’s seventh kill gave Florida a 2-1 lead.

Hawaii again started slowly in Set 4, down 4-1, but rallied with defense, their first blocks since Set 2 and a steady, diverse attack that finally had the Florida defense guessing and the Gators second-guessing themselves.

The Wahine block touched enough balls to give Hawaii a chance to transition successfully. Hawaii hit .368 in Set 4, with Taylor putting down five kills, sophomore hitter Kalei Greeley four and Manu-Olevao three in tying the match.

San Diego State 3, Eastern Washington 0

The Aztecs won in a sweep for the first time this season, needing just 75 minutes. Little, who rarely serves, had four aces, all coming in a 10-0 run in Set 2 as SDSU took control of the match.

"We were in system and in control," said Aztecs coach and former Hawaii All-American Deitre Collins-Parker. "We weren’t disappointed that we lost (3-0 to Hawaii on Thursday), we were disappointed in how we played. Tonight the focus was on us."

The Aztecs switched to a 6-2 with the two-setter system working well.

The Eagles, who pushed Florida to four Thursday, appeared not to have much left 24 hours later, hitting .028. Freshman hitter Ka’iulani Ahuna (Kamehameha-Hawaii) came off the bench for a team-high eight kills.

No. 16 Hawaii def. No. 2 Florida 18-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-17, 15-9