Wahine seniors celebrate with win

Four sets for four seniors. Perhaps that was the plan all along.

No. 14 Hawaii didn’t get its ninth straight sweep Saturday night, but it didn’t matter. All it meant was the that senior night lasted a little longer for the Rainbow Wahine in their final home appearance of the season.

Led by senior opposite Nikki Taylor’s 22 kills, Hawaii put a little extra icing on its Big West championship with a 21-25, 25-14, 25-19, 25-10 victory over UC Santa Barbara. The Wahine (22-5 15-1) used a balanced attack, with 11 kills each by junior middle Emily Maglio and sophomore hitter McKenna Granato, and 10 from senior hitter Annie Mitchem in their 10th victory in a row.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 7,144 (season-high 8,729 tickets) was treated to a post-match hula by the black-clad Wahine squad, dancing to Weldon Kekauoha’s “Lei Ho‘oheno.” The seniors — setter Tayler Higgins, defensive specialist Katiana Ponce, Mitchem and Taylor — then were treated to the only-in-Hawaii mountains of lei.

“If I hadn’t seen it last year, I wouldn’t have known what a huge deal it was,” said Mitchem’s father, Mark, who came from Texas for the festivities. “Nowhere else does this happen. Very special.”

The celebration lasted nearly as long as the match (2 hours, 8 minutes). There also were some anxious moments early when the Gauchos (17-11, 8-7) tried to spoil the party, something that hadn’t been done to the home finale since 2007.

Lindsey Ruddins, who didn’t play against the visiting Wahine on Sept. 23, showed why she was the favorite for Big West freshman of the year. She was untouchable in Set 1 with eight kills and no errors on 17 swings as UCSB snapped Hawaii’s consecutive set winning streak at 25. (UH had not dropped a set since Oct. 14, when UC Irvine won Set 3 26-24).

“We let that first set get away,” Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said, his team unable to hold the 20-15 lead. “Ruddins is a heck of a player, but we were able to steady out.”

The Wahine started a new streak, dominating Set 2 after a slow start. Down 6-3, Granato put down a kill and then camped out at the service line, where her 7-0 stint included Ruddins’ first hitting error and the first stuff of the night by Hawaii, the conference’s top blocking team.

At 14-9, Taylor’s bullet of a line shot sent Mitchem back to serve. When Mitchem was done, she had her 10th ace of the season and the Wahine had a 20-9 lead en route to tying the match.

Set 3 was a dogfight early, with eight lead changes and 11 ties, the last at 11. Hawaii went ahead for good at 12-11 on Granato’s eighth kill and then outscored UCSB 7-2 to take control at 20-13.

It continued in Set 4 with the Wahine ready to get things started. The Gauchos pulled to 6-5 only to have Hawaii steamroll away, with three aces by Taylor and an ace by freshman setter Norene Iosia for a 14-5 margin.

At 17-8, Taylor set up camp, serving until it was 22-8 and then leaving to a standing ovation while being replaced by junior setter Kendra Koelsch. A block by Maglio and Higgins on Phoebe Grunt gave the Wahine match point at 24-8, and it ending on a service error by Sydney Bast.

Ruddins finished with 21 kills, taking 68 of UCSB’s 136 swings. Sophomore libero Emilia Petrachi frustrated the Hawaii attackers all night with 25 digs.

Iosia turned in her fourth double-double in a row with 40 assists and 15 digs. Taylor added a double-double with 11 digs.

Hawaii has a bye week and will learn its postseason fate on Nov. 27 during the NCAA tournament selection show.