There are bad losses. And, then, there are devastating ones.
Hawaii managed to avoid the latter Saturday night in its Big West volleyball match at UC Riverside. Eight points away from being swept by the Highlanders, the Rainbow Wahine pulled off the reverse sweep, winning the final three sets in Riverside, Calif.
Junior McKenna Granato, hitting negative through Set 3, had 13 of her match-high 22 kills over the final two sets with no errors as Hawaii rallied for a 20-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-19, 15-7 big-sigh-of-relief victory in 2 hours and 20 minutes at the SRC Arena. The Wahine (10-5, 4-0 Big West) won their eighth straight and extended their conference winning streak to 14 dating back to last season.
It was anything but easy. And it was very frustrating, particularly since Hawaii had played so well in sweeping Cal State Fullerton on Friday.
“What’s frustrating is knowing how they can play like they did (Friday) and then knowing how they can play like they did tonight,” Wahine coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said in a postmatch phone call. “It is very frustrating being down 0-2 like we were when we know what they’re capable of.
“It’s the same thing that’s happening, giving the other team points. This week we’ll work on the same things, being consistent and focus on what’s happening on our side.”
What continued to happen on Saturday was Hawaii’s habit of giving up runs of points. It began in Set 1 when the Wahine saw an 18-13 lead evaporate. UCR used a 12-2 closing run with the Wahine’s only two points coming on Highlanders service errors.
It was the first time that Hawaii had lost a set on Riverside’s home court in six visits. It quickly became two with a service error by junior hitter Casey Castillo and two hitting errors by senior middle Emily Maglio — she had none on Friday — putting the Highlanders ahead for good at 6-4.
The Wahine regrouped after a lengthy intermission talk, one that ran so long that Hawaii was assessed a yellow card warning for delay of game when its lineup card was turned in late. Something kicked in when UH trailed 17-16.
Hawaii took the lead for good at 19-17, the momentum carrying into Set 4 with the Wahine jumping out to leads of 7-2 and 12-6. The Highlanders rallied to within 12-10 and 14-13, but Hawaii held, forcing a fifth set for the fifth time this season.
A tenuous 5-4 lead turned into a 10-4 rout. Granato had seven kills in the final set, including four straight to push it to 11-5. It ended when Castillo and Maglio teamed to stuff senior hitter Brooke Callahan for what would be just the fifth block for Hawaii.
Castillo and Maglio both had 14 kills, with Maglio reaching the 600-kill mark. Senior libero Savanah Kahakai, making her 75th consecutive career start, finished with 15 digs, moving her past Kanoe Kamana’o for sixth on UH’s all-time digs list at 1,230.
“Devastating is a hard word,” Ah Mow-Santos said. “I told them that you’ve got to fail in order to get better. They do love to come back, but maybe if we had lost the game …”
Then devastating would have been the correct word in terms of Hawaii’s postseason hopes. Should the Wahine not win the Big West — and the automatic berth into the NCAA tournament that goes with the title — a loss to a team such as UCR would all but kill any hope for an at-large bid.
Junior hitter Kaiulani Ahuna (Kamehameha-Hawaii), a transfer from Eastern Washington, put down a career-high 21 kills for the Highlanders (8-8, 0-4), who fell to 0-22 all-time against Hawaii. The top digging team in the conference finished with a 63-61 edge in digs, led by freshman libero Nicole Rodriguez’s 15.
Hawaii, which set a school record with 17 aces on Friday at Cal State Fullerton, had none for the first time this season while giving up four to UCR.
The Wahine were to return today from their first road trip and begin preparing for matches with UC Santa Barbara (3-14, 2-2) on Friday and conference leader Cal Poly (15-2, 5-0) on Saturday.
