Freshmen, yes.

Rookies, no more.

True freshmen Norene Iosia and Kirsten Sibley looked very much like veterans Friday night, helping No. 6 Hawaii nearly pull off an improbable comeback against No. 4 Wisconsin at the Stan Sheriff Center.

The Badgers rallied for the 25-16, 25-16, 24-26, 25-23 victory in the Chevron Invitational volleyball tournament opener, but the Rainbow Wahine won over the crowd of 5,833 by nearly pushing it to five with a makeshift lineup that was missing two starters, with a third only able to play in the back row.

“You’re never happy about a loss, but if you’re going to lose, the first one is probably the best one,” associate head coach Jeff Hall said after the Wahine dropped their first season opener since 2008. “It makes you hungry.

“I’m not shocked that our youngsters stepped up. You never know as a coach how they’ll do, but they embraced it and played fearless.”

Sibley, an outside hitter, finished with 13 kills on a match-high 44 swings. Iosia, replacing senior setter Tayler Higgins in Set 3, had 22 assists and had an ace on her first college serve.

Wisconsin, led by senior All-America setter Lauren Carlini, had a balanced attack with four players in double-digit kills. Molly Haggerty finished with 19, Haleigh Nelson 14, Lauryn Gills 12 and Tionna Williams 11.

Hawaii (0-1) will face Kansas State (1-0) in tonight’s second match. Wisconsin (1-0) takes on Arizona (0-1) at 4:45 p.m.

In Friday’s opener, senior hitter Brooke Sassin put down 14 kills and Kansas State took advantage of Arizona’s passing problems to win the battle of the Wildcats 25-21, 25-16, 20-25, 25-18.

Hawaii came out of the locker room down 2-0 but brought a new energy with the insertion of freshmen Iosia and middle Natasha Burns. The connection between Iosia and her roommate Sibley also began to work, with Sibley putting down five kills and Iosia winning both jousts in Set 3 as the Wahine had the Badgers wondering what happened.

It carried over to Set 4, with the Wahine leading most of the way. Wisconsin called time out down 19-16 and fought to take the lead at 21-20. Junior middle Emily Maglio put down one of her 12 kills to tie it at 22, but Haggerty answered to give Wisconsin the lead for good at 23-22.

Hawaii held off one match point, closing to 24-23 on another kill by Maglio. Williams ended it with her 11th kill.

The Wahine won the block war 11.5-8, with Burns in on four in just two sets. Junior libero Savanah Kahakai tied her career-high 23 digs.

“The crowd really helped a lot, we got a lot of energy for it,” Maglio said. “I think we learned a lot, learned that we have a long way to go and how hard we need to keep working.”

It was the first match of her career where Maglio played all six rotations.

As for Iosia, “she made a splash,” Hall said. “The moment’s not too big for her. She’s going to be special.

“It wasn’t hard to make the change (at setter). It’s not that Higgins was playing poorly, but sometimes it’s why not try something different. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I think it will be a 1-2 combo using both of them the rest of the year.”

Kansas State 3, Arizona 1

Arizona senior hitter Kalei Mau (Kaiser) had 18 kills and 60 of her team’s attempts but it was not enough to lift UA. Mau finished with a double-double, adding 10 digs. Senior setter Penina Snuka (Kahuku) had 32 assists.

Kansas State outblocked Arizona 14-6, with senior setter Katie Brand and sophomore middle Macy Flowers each in on seven. Senior libero Kersten Kober had a match-high 14 digs.

NO. 4 WISCONSIN DEF. NO. 6 HAWAII, 25-16, 25-16, 24-26, 25-23

BADGERS (1-0)

RAINBOW WAHINE (0-1)

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 — Wisconsin 4 (Carlini 2, Nelson, MacDonald). Hawaii 2 (Greeley, Iosia). Service errors — Wisconsin 14 (Dodd 5, Haggerty 3, Bates 3, Carlini 2, Nelson). Hawaii 7 (Granato 2, Koelsch, Maglio, Greeley, Castillo, Iosia). Assists — Wisconsin 62 (Carlini 58, Bates 2, Haggerty, MacDonald). Hawaii 39 (Iosia 22, Higgins 13, Koelsch, Granato, Greeley, Kahakai).
T — 2:25. Officials — Wayne Lee, Dickson Chun. A — 5,833.