Rainbow Wahine serve up a loss to CSUN

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. >> Despite a season-high 17 service errors, Hawaii needed its serving to secure its latest victory in Big West Conference women’s volleyball.

The Rainbow Wahine used five aces in the fifth set to earn a 25-23, 20-25, 27-25, 22-25, 15-8 victory over Cal State Northridge on Saturday night at the Matadome.

UH (13-6, 7-1) used its sixth successive win against the Matadors (10-9, 4-3) to remain half a game behind first-place Cal Poly and two ahead of third-place UC Irvine. It was Hawaii’s third consecutive Saturday match that went to five, with two wins on the road (UC Riverside and CSUN) and a loss at home (Cal Poly).

The Wahine finished with 16 aces, one shy of the school’s single-match record they set Sept. 29 at Cal State Fullerton. Sophomore setter Norene Iosia finished with a match-high five aces, equaling her career best established Sept. 15 against Northern Arizona. Senior defensive specialists Clare-Marie Anderson and Gianna Guinasso, junior hitter McKenna Granato and junior reserve setter Faith Ma’afala each added two aces. Ma’afala’s back-to-back aces came late in Set 5 in helping the Wahine pull away at 13-7.

“This season, the coaches have given me areas to hit, not straight at the person but more into seams and making (opponents) move more,” Iosia said. “That’s a big change from last year, when I just hoped it would go in. Now that I’m working on hitting seams, I’m just more focused on putting more heat on the ball and just making the passers move and try to get them out of system.”

Iosia’s improvement reflects head coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos’ emphasis on turning the serve into a weapon.

“Coach Robyn has been very open about it,” Iosia said. “You can do whatever serve you’re comfortable with, but you’ve got to serve tough. Even if you’re serving it out, it’s got to be tough. We don’t want a lollipop serve; that’s a free point for them. Make the other team feel the pressure from our service line.”

CSUN (10-9, 4-3) felt that pressure in the final set. The Wahine used a 4-0 spurt on Guinasso’s serve, which included an ace, to take a 5-1 lead.

After the Matadors narrowed their deficit to 6-4. Granato took control. The Kailua native put down one of her 24 kills, then added two aces to expand the margin to 9-4.

The Matadors held off one match point but not a second, with junior hitter Casey Castillo pounding a cross-court kill from the left side to end it after 2 hours and 52 minutes. The match featured 28 ties, 16 lead changes and six coaching challenges.

Saturday was Hawaii’s seventh five-setter of the season. It emphasized the Wahine’s biggest problem: generating and maintaining confidence and concentration from the first set.

“Coaches and players, we’ve all sat down and talked about why we have these dips,” Iosia said after UH improved to 3-4 in five-setters. “It all comes down to not being timid while we play. We don’t want to make that error in the beginning of the game, reflect and have that error sit with us. Once we’re confident and just swinging at balls, taking rips like no one cares, that’s the key.”

Set 1 was tied eight times, the last at 23. Iosia’s ace and a kill by Granato led to the Wahine closing it out on a 3-0 run.

CSUN’s Aeryn Owens dominated Set 2, putting down five of her 24 kills and adding two blocks during an 8-3 surge that put the Matadors ahead for good at 19-15.

In Set 3, CSUN led by as much as 14-9 and later at 21-18. Hawaii rallied with a 4-0 run that included two consecutive blocks of Rachel Diaz. The Wahine needed three tries at ending it, breaking a 25-25 tie on a Matador hitting error and a block of Morgan Salone.

Hawaii was poised to end it in four, only to have CSUN turn a 20-19 deficit into a 24-21 lead.

“We knew we can play really better than that,” Iosia said. “It shouldn’t take us the fourth and fifth set to come out and show up. We need to start coming out with that mentality in the first set.”

Iosia finished with 44 assists and 10 digs for her 11th double-double. Maglio added 13 kills and was in on eight of the team’s 11 blocks. Senior libero Savanah Kahakai had 10 of the Wahine’s 50 digs, her ninth consecutive match in double digits.