DAVIS, Calif. » The Hawaii volleyball team has had easier wins than Sunday’s 23-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-17 win at UC Davis. But the Rainbow Wahine (23-1, 13-0 Big West Conference) took care of business, coming from behind in all three games they won, overcoming a gutty conference opponent on the road and the hardship of a 1 p.m. start.

OK, that last one was a little tongue in cheek.

"I think we responded well," opposite hitter Nikki Taylor said. "We could have responded better and not let them get so many leads. However, for the variables we had coming into this game, flying here and having the game be at 1 o’clock, which is a time that we’ve never played at before, I think we responded well."

The Aggies (13-15, 8-6) scored the first point in all four games. Hawaii ended up leading for most of the first game, but never could push the lead higher than three points. UC Davis came back to take the game by scoring the final three on two kills by Aima Eichie sandwiched between a nasty ace served by Allie Wegener.

The Wahine got control of the second game and more or less cruised. But the Aggies were up to their old tricks in Game 3, scoring the first five points and maintaining the lead through the early going.

However, Hawaii chipped away, thanks in part to some gritty defense. Olivia Magill was only credited with two solo blocks and four assists in the box score but she appeared to get her hands on several shots. A 6-0 run midway through the game got the Wahine the lead. Magill scored the tying point on a spike seconds after she blocked a spike on the same rally. UC Davis seemed to get discombobulated at that point. On game-point, Kaylin Squyres’ attempt at a spike for the Aggies went softly into the net.

Game 4 was more of the same. UC Davis got out to a 9-4 advantage. Magill scored on a soft punch kill to put Hawaii up 14-12. Two consecutive aces by Kalei Greeley followed by a Taylor kill pushed the lead to 22-15. Another Taylor spike set up match-point. Nicola Moore’s kill attempt for the Aggies sailed wide and the Wahine had the match.

"They’re a good team and in their system, they’re very good," Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said. "We had to work really hard today. This is a really good win for us. We’re three up now (on Long Beach State) with three to go. We didn’t look great all of the time, but we played well when we had to."

Taylor led the way with 21 kills and a .231 hitting percentage. Tai Manu-Olevao had 11 kills and Magill added 10 kills. Tayler Higgins had 41 assists. Squyres led UC Davis with 19 kills but the Aggies finished with just a .113 hitting percentage.

"We’ve been a good blocking team," Shoji said. "We did scramble a lot. We got a lot of breaks when the ball fell our way this afternoon. But we’ll take the win."

Said Taylor, "I think we’re getting better each match. But I think we still have things we can improve on. I think siding out quickly would be good for us. We’ve kind of let teams catch back into runs and that’s something we’re not going to be able to do against really great teams."

Hawaii has three regular-season matches left, all on the road: UC Irvine, Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara. As Taylor’s Twitter bio reads, "You must call me Night Hawk," it should be pointed out that all three will be at night.

BIG WEST VOLLEYBALL

Sunday
Hawaii def. UC Davis 23-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-17
Tuesday
Hawaii at UC Irvine, 2 p.m.
Thursday
Hawaii at Cal Poly, 2 p.m.
Friday
Cal State Fullerton at Long Beach State
UC Riverside at CSUN
Saturday
Long Beach State at UC Riverside
UC Davis at UC Irvine
Hawaii at UC Santa Barbara
CSUN at Cal State Fullerton

NO. 7 HAWAII DEF. UC DAVIS 23-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-17
RAINBOW WAHINE (23-1, 13-0 BWC)

AGGIES (13-15, 8-6 BWC)

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 — Hawaii 4 (Greeley 2, Higgins, Kahakai). UC Davis 8 (Wegener 3, Merlino 2, Allen, Bolko, Squyres). Service errors — Hawaii 7 (Higgins 3, Greeley, Kahakai, Manu-Olevao, Taylor). UC Davis 9 (Squyres 3, Allen 2, Bolko, Johnson, Mar, Wegener). Assists — Hawaii 52 (Higgins 41, Kahakai 6, Magill 2, Manu-Olevao 2, Anderson). UC Davis 43 (Mar 23, Merlino 15, Bolko 4, Moore).

T — 1:59. Officials — Bill Forrester, Maile Jewkes. A — 1,047.