So much was on the line Saturday night, including sole possession of first place in the Big West volleyball standings. There was the 22-match conference winning streak, 13 in a row over Cal Poly and the very real need to regain some national credibility.
It took 2 hours and 29 minutes for all that to blow up when Hawaii, the defending conference champion, couldn’t defend home court. For the first time since the Stan Sheriff Center opened in 1994, the Rainbow Wahine have lost six matches at home in a season.
This one will hurt for a while. Up 2-0 and unable to finish. Up 2-0 and unable to stop runs of points that have ruined momentum, particularly in five-setters, this season.
Hawaii wasted a 16-block performance and the first career double-double by senior middle Emily Maglio, falling to Cal Poly 16-25, 22-25, 25-15, 25-22, 15-9 in front of a stunned crowd of 5,252. The Van Winden sisters, the nieces of former Wahine Lisa Strand-Ma’a, were double trouble, combining for 39 kills and 30 digs to lead the Mustangs to their 11th straight victory, and their first in Honolulu since 2006.
Sophomore hitter Torrey Van Winden had 25 kills and 13 digs, and her sister Adlee, a junior hitter, added 14 kills and 17 digs for Cal Poly (16-2, 6-0 Big West). It was service runs by Adlee Van Winden that were momentum-killers: 8-0 early in Set 3, 6-0 early in Set 4, 3-0 late in Set 5.
“To sum it up, the other team wanted it more,” Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said. “They didn’t do anything that we didn’t scout. (Losing) that game was all us.
“We’re up 2-0 and then we’re down 9-1 (in Set 3). We took care of the other side then, when we came back out (of the locker room after Set 2), we didn’t care of our side.”
Maglio finished with 11 kills and 10 blocks— including a career-high four solo — giving her 20 blocks for the weekend. She also had 10 in Friday’s sweep of UC Santa Barbara.
Junior hitter McKenna Granato added 20 kills, sophomore setter Norene Iosia turned in her 10th double-double of the year (48 assists, 18 digs) and junior hitter Casey Castillo had 11 kills for the Wahine, who fell to 2-4 in five-set matches this season. Senior libero Savanah Kahakai had 16 digs for her 13th match in double-digit digs, and seventh in a row.
It was beyond frustrating for Hawaii.
“We did a good job executing early, but then those stupid tip shots,” Granato said of Cal Poly’s effectiveness at going over Hawaii’s block.
Torrey Van Winden was particularly effective, with a number of her 25 kills falling where the Hawaii defense wasn’t. The 6-foot-3 sophomore transfer from UCLA added 13 digs, while her sister Adlee also had a double-double (14 kills, 17 digs) along with three aces.
It was the first time since 2005 that Hawaii led 2-0 then lost in five at home. It didn’t start out looking like it would go the distance with the “Hawaii Five-0” theme starting early as the Wahine outblocking the Mustang 5-0.
Maglio was in on four, including a solo, to go with three kills. Senior setter-turned-hitter Kendra Koelsch reached the 100-block mark for her career and Castillo got her 200th kill as Hawaii dominated, hitting .351 and holding Cal Poly — coming into the night No. 5 in hitting percentage (.315) — to .050.
It was only the second set the Mustangs had dropped in conference play this year.
The Wahine were rolling early in Set 2, picking up three quick blocks en route to a 10-5 lead. But an old habit came back to haunt Hawaii, that of giving up runs of points — this time it was nine straight as Cal Poly jumped out 14-10 behind the serve of junior libero Katherine Brouker.
A kill by sophomore middle Natasha Burns turned the serve to Kahakai, whose jump-float wreaked havoc with the Mustangs’ serve-receive. Two service overpasses were quickly put back down by Maglio and Kahakai added an ace in tying it at 14.
It was tied four more times, the last at 19. A Mustangs service error gave the Wahine the lead for good.
Cal Poly’s only losses had come on the road, both in sweeps by ranked teams (Washington and Oregon). The Mustangs came out determined not to have that happen, avoiding being swept by dominating Set 3 from the start and taking a set off the Wahine in Honolulu for the first time since 2008.
