49ers hold off Wahine for Big West lead

LONG BEACH, Calif. >> One of Nikki Taylor’s best career performances failed to keep No. 12 Hawaii in first place in the Big West Conference on Saturday night.

Taylor came within one kill and two digs of her career highs in each category, but the Rainbow Wahine lost to Long Beach State in five intense sets at the Walter Pyramid in front of 3,212 — the largest crowd to attend a volleyball match at the school since 2001.

The senior from Kaiser High finished with 28 kills, 19 digs, six block assists and a service ace in the 25-17, 23-25, 25-16, 21-25, 15-13 defeat that ended UH’s 26-match winning streak in conference play. It also ended the Wahine’s conference road winning streak at 15, which dated back to a five-set defeat at Long Beach State in 2014.

The win gave the 49ers (12-7, 6-0) sole possession of first place.

Taylor passed Karrie Trieschman to take over 13th place on the career kill list.

“She was practically our whole offense tonight,” Wahine coach Dave Shoji said. “She has the ability to carry our team. We just didn’t get enough production out of our other players.”

Sophomore hitter McKenna Granato and senior middle Annie Mitchem added 10 kills apiece. Hawaii (12-5, 5-1) hit just .168 in the match — including a .429 hitting percentage in the fifth set.

“They really served us off the court,” Taylor said. “They got us out of system so often. Because of that, either I had four hands across the net or our outside hitters had four hands across the net. They were able to get easy digs and run a quick transition.”

Three 49ers amassed at least 20 digs apiece, with freshman libero Hailey Harward getting a career-best 27. Anete Brinke added 23 digs as well as 12 kills before being carried off the court in the fifth set with a leg injury and her team trailing 12-11. Nele Barber finished with 21 digs to go with 20 kills.

The teams forced 42 ties during the match and traded leads 18 times. The second set alone featured 16 ties and six lead changes, with 12 ties and seven lead exchanges taking place in the fourth set.

The only hint of dominance came in the third set, when Long Beach used a 10-1 blitz to turn a 9-8 deficit into an 18-10 advantage.

“We’ve had battles with Long Beach almost every year,” Shoji said. “It was a great environment, great crowd.”

One of the biggest battles came in the final set. UH held leads of 8-6 and 11-9, but the 49ers tied the score on Missy Owens’ quick set to YiZhi Xue and a block that hit the right antenna.

After Shoji called a timeout, Taylor’s cross-court kill put the Wahine ahead, 12-11. Brinke suffered her injury on the play. Long Beach’s Peyton Grahovac tied the score with a kill from the back row, then the 49ers used a Taylor hitting error to take the 13-12 lead. Sophomore hitter Casey Castillo tied it with a shot from the left

Long Beach State took match point as Ashley Murray pounded her 17th kill, causing Shoji to call another timeout. Then as the crowd rose and yelled, Barber’s cross-court shot ended it after 2 hours and 35 minutes.

Barber enabled the 49ers to take control of the first set. UH held a 10-9 lead when the senior from Germany pounded two kills, assisted on two blocks and added a tip to lead a 6-1 surge that put the hosts ahead 15-10.

Taylor played a critical role late in the second set. The senior nullified Long Beach’s 22-21 lead by smashing successive kills from the left side. Castillo’s hitting error allowed the 49ers to tie the score at 23. But Harward’s long service error put the Wahine back in front before Savanah Kahakai’s cross-court spike from the right secured the set.

UH used a 4-0 spurt to win the fourth set. With the score tied at 21, Mitchem converted Norene Iosia’s quick set to break the tie. Taylor added a tip, then Iosia blocked Barber’s attempt before Mitchem slam back of an overpass tied the match.