Livermore Community Park became a second home for the Hawaii beach volleyball team this week in Folsom, Calif. The Rainbow Wahine began practicing at the site of the Big West Challenge on Tuesday, and on Saturday the SandBows capitalized on the “home court” advantage.
No. 3 Hawaii (23-3) completed its nine-matches-in-eight-days road trip at 9-0, capping its final day on the mainland with three wins. The SandBows took down No. 6 Cal Poly 4-1, host Sacramento State 5-0 and — in the title clincher — No. 5 Long Beach State, the defending event champion, 5-0.
Hawaii extended its program-record win streak to 18 straight. Also, Emily Maglio and Ka’iwi Schucht, playing at Flight 1, tied the program record for consecutive wins by a pair with 14.
“It’s always fun to beat The Beach,” said SandBows coach Jeff Hall, whose team lost to the 49ers in this event last year. “We played pretty well and they didn’t.
“For us to go 9-0 when being on the road for 11 days is a testament to our team and their commitment. It would have been a sweet sweep if we hadn’t dropped a set, but I’ll take a win over them any day.”
All flights won in straight sets over Long Beach State (15-2) except for Flight 2, where Morgan Martin and Lea Monkhouse held off Sasha Karelov-Megan Kruidhof 21-18, 23-25, 15-10. The SandBows only dropped one point out of the 15 individual duals of the tripleheader, that coming against the Mustangs when Paige Dreeuws and Hannah Zalopany fell to Cal Poly’s Hannah Hubbard and Heather Pembroke 21-17, 16-21, 15-13.
The victory over the Mustangs (18-3) snapped their 14-match winning streak. Hawaii followed that with the sweep of the host Hornets (1-11). Sac State didn’t score more than 15 points in any set.
Hall said his team was able to stay fresh despite playing three matches on a warm day by using the breaks to return to the nearby hotel, where the players were able to shower and stay in air conditioning. He said that and Hawaii having been at the venue were advantages in the late match with the 49ers.
While the SandBows went 2-0 on Friday, the 49ers did not arrive at the site until Friday and had no matches. It was the first ever sweep of The Beach by Hawaii in 17 meetings.
Hawaii next hosts the Queen’s Cup on April 7-8.
