Wahine road trip will be both new and familiar

The first of the first and the first of the last.

That’s the antipodes of the experiences for Hawaii’s Kirsten Sibley and Tayler Higgins as they prepare for this week’s Big West opening matches at UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly.

For freshman hitter Sibley, it’s the first road trip of her collegiate career. For senior setter Higgins, it’s the first of the final ones.

“Sometimes you think of it, of things being the last,” said Higgins, a Rainbow Wahine co-captain with junior libero Savanah Kahakai. “Like double days. It was, ‘Oh, wow, this is the last time I’ll be doing this.’ There are moments where you say, ‘Soak it in. It’s not going to last.’

“At the same time, like going on the road, you know what to expect. I think we’re excited and eager to play conference games. We’ll be in some situations that will test us. It will be good for us.”

Hawaii has spent the past four weeks at home, going 7-4 in the friendly confines of the Stan Sheriff Center. Heading to UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly will be the first as a Wahine for Sibley, but not her first time in either the Thunderdome on Friday or the Mott Athletics Center on Saturday.

“I took visits to both places,” Sibley said. “Neither (gym) is as big as ours. I’m so happy with my choice.

“I’m super excited to be on the road, excited to bond with the girls and see what it’s like to compete on the road. It’s nice to have our home court, but I’m looking forward to a different challenge.

“It’s my first of the first and I’m going to enjoy it.”

While Sibley missed both matches against Pepperdine last week with flu-like symptoms, senior Annie Mitchem played for the first time this season. Mitchem, who spent most of her All-America career at Irvine Valley as a middle blocker — she did play some right side for the Lasers — played on the left for the first time when replacing Sibley.

“Annie just killed it,” Sibley said. “It was so good to see her out there.”

With both available this week, the dilemma for Hawaii coach Dave Shoji will be where to play the 6-foot-3 Mitchem and the 6-2 Sibley. If Sibley is back on the left, then the option is to move Mitchem to the middle, where she would replace either 6-3 sophomore Casey Castillo or 6-5 freshman Natasha Burns.

“Annie will take reps in both places although she’ll probably play left this weekend,” Shoji said. “She took some pretty good swings, hit for a fairly high percentage. She doesn’t really know what she’s doing out there, but she’s got a good arm, is an athlete, and gives us a pretty good chance at putting it down every time.”

As for going with either Castillo (played in all 11 matches, 8 starts) or Burns (6 matches, 3 starts) as the second middle, “both have contributed,” Shoji said. “You have to find the hot one for that night.”

On thing that has been hot is Hawaii’s serving. The Wahine have 67 aces to 78 service errors, a very good ratio.

Senior opposite Nikki Taylor leads the way with 25 aces with just 18 errors. She ranks eighth nationally in total aces and second in aces per set (0.93), despite missing the first three matches of the season.

Taylor, the Wahine floor captain, also is second nationally in points per set (6.78), fourth in kills per set (5.41) and 12th in attacks per set (12.07).

On Friday, Hawaii will see the leading candidate for Big West Freshman of the Year. Lindsey Ruddins, who earned the conference’s first three freshman of the week honors, is 17th nationally in kills per set (4.98) and 19th in attacks per set (11.66).

On Saturday, the Wahine will face reigning conference Freshman of the Year Adlee Van Winden. The niece of former Wahine Lisa Strand-Ma’a is sixth in the Big West in kills (3.47 kps) with 14 aces.

“The road is always challenging,” Shoji said. “UCSB and Cal Poly are more competitive than they’ve been. I’ve seen the matches and the scores. Both have really good left-side players in Ruddins and Van Winden.

“But we’ve been a good road team. We return a lot of people. We just need to play up to our capabilities.”

Hawaii is scheduled to leave this afternoon with a travel roster of 14 players. Not making the trip are freshman defensive specialists McKenna Ross and Emma Smith, junior DS Gianna Guinasso and redshirts Faith Ma’afala, a junior setter, and freshman DS Rika Okino.