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DARRELL MIHO / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-ADVERTISER
Hawaii’s McKenna Granato hit through UC Santa Barbara’s block on Friday night at the Thunderdome in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Sophomore hitter McKenna Granato put down 13 kills and senior opposite Nikki Taylor added 11 as No. 14 Hawaii successfully opened defense of its Big West volleyball title with a 25-20, 25-14, 25-19 victory tonight in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Sophomore middle Casey Castillo had a career-high seven kills, her only hitting error in nine swings coming midway through Set 3. Senior hitter Annie Mitchem also had seven kills as the Rainbow Wahine (8-4, 1-0 Big West) ran their conference winning streak to 22 dating back to 2014.
For the Gauchos (9-5, 0-1), junior hitter Chanel Hoffman had 10 kills. UCSB was without its kill leader, redshirt freshman Lindsey Ruddins, who injured her ankle this week in practice.
The Wahine outblocked the Gauchos 7-4.5. UCSB came into the match as the top blocking team in the country, 23rd nationally.
Hawaii continues its first road trip of the season Saturday, meeting Cal Poly (7-4, 0-0).
For those wanting to watch the games, google UH women volleyball schedule. Then at game time, click on that game and click “watch”. Video is not professional and hardly any points on screen but better than nothing. Try not to use your iPhone/iPad data but your home internet as it will eat up your data plan. Go Bows!
“UCSB came into the match as the top blocking team in the country, 23th nationally”. Huh? Both of these things cannot be true.
Probably a typo. Should probably read “as one of the top blocking teams in the country….” They may be 22nd nationally.