UH seniors shine in final home game

Whiteout Night was a Wipeout Night in so many ways for Hawaii. The Rainbow Wahine not only swept rival Long Beach State in 88 minutes but swept away the doubts, the missteps and errors that had haunted them during this up-and-down volleyball season.

Hawaii saved its best, most complete, performance for its last home match, giving the 6,835 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center some chickenskin moments during and after the 25-14, 25-11, 25-10 rout of the 49ers. The Wahine (18-7, 12-2 Big West) saw their six-member senior class throw themselves quite the party, led by senior middle Emily Maglio’s 19 kills and 13 digs from injury-slowed senior hitter Kalei Greeley.

How perfect were the final minutes of the match? Senior defensive specialists Gianna Guinasso and Clare-Marie Anderson played in the front row, with Guinasso putting down her first career kill to put Hawaii up 23-9 in Set 3. With Maglio getting a rare turn from the service line and senior setter-turned-hitter Kendra Koelsch returning to setter, Greeley put down her first kill of the season on a back-row attack for match point.

Sophomore middle Natasha Burns capped her errorless night with a career-high 11th kill to end it and kick off the celebration that lasted nearly as long as the match. It included Kahakai performing a traditional Samoan dance and the UH band playing “O, Canada” in honor of Canadian national Maglio.

There were tears of joy and appreciation, and mountains and mountains of lei, a testament to how Hawaii’s senior night is like no other.

“I don’t want to leave,” Koelsch said, hugging Guinasso, her teammate from age 12. “I love my team.”

“It was so much fun, but I didn’t know it was going to happen,” Guinasso said of her front-row appearance. “Norene (sophomore setter Iosia) told me she was going to set me. I wanted so much to get the kill.”

But not as much as Wahine coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos wanted to get all six of her seniors on the court for the final minutes.

“We tried to find a way but just couldn’t,” she said.

However, she did get a .472 hitting performance in Set 3, the only error coming when Maglio hit into the block out of the back row. It allowed the 49ers to cut the Wahine lead to 12-4. The Beach got within eight just once more (14-6).

At 24-9, only an over reach by Burns allowed the 49ers to reach double figures. It was the only mistake of the night for Hawaii’s other Canadian.

“I wanted to play my best for the seniors tonight,” said Burns, in on two of the team’s five blocks. “I wanted to give them the going-away party they deserved.”

Hawaii finishes the regular season at UC Davis (14-11, 6-6) on Nov. 16 and at UC Irvine (21-4, 9-3) on Nov. 18.

The injury-plagued 49ers (7-17, 4-9) were led by sophomore libero-turned-hitter Hailey Harward’s six kills. She added 14 digs, while senior libero Rachel Nieto had 10.

The Wahine won the dig war 56-36, anchored by Greeley’s season-high 14 and Kahakai’s 13. Kahakai’s effort has her five away from passing Tita Ahuna (1,384) for No. 3 on the program’s all-time digs list.

“Thank you to all the fans, everyone who has supported us, kept us going,” Greeley said in her postmatch video. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you for giving us a purpose to play.”

The match was never in doubt, just as Set 1 was never close after McKenna Granato’s kill gave the Wahine a 7-5 lead. Iosia served for five straight and Hawaii pulled away, leading by as many as 10 starting at 17-7.

UH’s middles combined for 10 kills on 13 swings in the opening 21 minutes, the only error by Maglio when she hit the net on her attack follow-through at 3-2. Burns put down her first five swings to help the Wahine hit .361.

Life never got better for the 49ers, who continued to have no answer for UH’s middle attack. In Set 2, Burns added another four kills without an error and Maglio went off with eight on her next 10 attempts, including four of the Wahine’s last five points.

Much as in basketball, where coaches like the assist-to-basket ratio, the Wahine had 20 kills out of their 25 points. The Beach didn’t reach double figures until Hawaii had its first swing at set point (24-9).