Rainbow Wahine get in gear after sloppy start

LONG BEACH, Calif. >> The lack of concentration and confidence that resulted in Hawaii’s first conference loss lingered for six days and nearly 2,600 miles.

But the Rainbow Wahine recovered from a lackluster first set to repel Long Beach State 16-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-22 on Friday night in front of 2,175 at the Walter Pyramid.

UH (12-6, 6-1) used the win to draw within one-half game of idle Cal Poly, which took over first place in the Big West Conference last weekend by rallying from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Wahine in five games at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Senior middle Emily Maglio compiled a career-best 10 blocks for the third consecutive match, and added 14 kills for her second successive double-double. She has a combined 30 blocks in the past three matches.

“I think my last two games were definitely my best, and I know I can do a lot better,” said Maglio, named the Big West’s defensive player of the week on Monday. “But I am touching a lot more balls this year than I have in the past.”

Junior hitter McKenna Granato turned in her seventh double-double (10 kills-15 digs) and senior libero Savanah Kahakai added 15 digs for her eighth consecutive match in double digits, her 12th of the season.

Hawaii finishes the road trip at Cal State Northridge (10-8, 4-2) tonight.

UH, the two-time defending conference champion, resembled anything but a contender in Set 1 against Long Beach State (5-15, 2-5), an injury-plagued squad with 10 newcomers — including seven freshmen — that had lost four of five matches entering Friday night.

“I think we were all a little nervous just playing here,” Maglio said. “There’s always a lot of fans. It’s a tough environment.”

With the score tied 3-3 in Set 1, the 49ers used a 9-2 blitz to take firm control. Junior hitter Emma Kirst, a transfer from Utah, had two blocks and sophomore libero-turned-hitter Hailey Harward added one block, one kill and one assist.

When the hosts were not creating points, the Wahine were sabotaging themselves. UH had two of its 16 service errors and nine of its 19 hitting errors in the opening set, hitting negative.026.

“We weren’t even playing volleyball,” Maglio said. “It was that bad. So we decided to pick it up.”

That involved using more quick sets from the middle, with Maglio as the main beneficiary. The Canadian national led a 5-0 spurt early in Set 2 that put the Wahine ahead for good at 6-1. Maglio pounded two kills off quick sets from sophomore setter Norene Iosia, and joined junior hitter Casey Castillo on a block.

Maglio attributed her team’s improvement to increased use of quick sets.

“I think it was a big factor,” she said. “We always say that if we pass well, we can run our middles. We were having good passing, so we don’t have to set just the outsides.”

But the third set proved pivotal.

The teams exchanged the lead four times and forced 11 ties before UH took a 20-17 lead. Long Beach State then drew within one twice, at 20-19 and 21-20.

However, Maglio and Iosia combined to score three of the final four points. After Maglio smashed another kill from Iosia’s quick set, the pair combined on a block to extend the Wahine’s advantage to 23-20.

The 49ers committed a four-touch violation to give the Wahine set point, then Iosia’s dump shot ended it.

Hawaii led 15-9 in Set 4, but Long Beach State hung tough, pulling to 23-21. Senior hitter Kendra Koelsch’s cross-court kill from the right side gave the Wahine match point at 24-21.

The 49ers held off one attempt — junior hitter Megan Kruidhof’s kill cut it to 24-22 — but not the second. Harward’s attempt landed wide to end it after 2 hours and 3 minutes.

“I wasn’t sold,” Wahine coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said, “until the last ball dropped.”

Kruidhof finished with 14 kills. Harward added 12 kills, 16 digs and two aces. Kirst had eight blocks and senior libero Rachel Nieto finished with a match-high 18 digs. Sophomore middle YiZhi Xue — second to Maglio in both total blocks and block assists in the Big West— had just one block assist.