Wahine sweep Cal State Fullerton to improve 39-0 against Titans

After spending all week practicing in humid, sticky Gym I, Hawaii was ready to chill out in the Stan Sheriff Center on Friday night. The Rainbow Wahine coolly collected their 39th straight win over Cal State Fullerton, icing out the Titans 25-15, 25-19, 25-21 for an 85-minute Big West Conference volleyball victory.

A crowd of 3,590 saw junior setter-hitter Norene Iosia turn in her ninth double-double (10 kills, 11 assists) and senior libero Tita Akiu finish with 17 digs, her 12th straight double-digit performance. The highlight for Hawaii (7-5, 3-0 Big West) might have been the debut of freshman middle Kamalei Krug, the first Division I athlete from the tiny Hawaiian immersion school Anuenue.

“It was even better than I thought it would be,” said Krug, who had two kills and was in on three of the Wahine’s eight blocks. “I’m so proud to be able to play and represent my community.

“That first (kill) wasn’t my best, but, as Coach Robyn (Ah Mow-Santos) says, you have to find a way to score. I’ve been working my butt off and it was exciting, seeing that hard work pays off.”

It was an AYSO kind of night, with Ah Mow-Santos able to use 12 of her 14 available players. (Sophomore middle Sky Williams wasn’t cleared due to an ankle injury). However, the revolving door did lead to some ragged play, particularly at the ends of Sets 2 and 3.

“It’s always a good thing to be able to play so many and I’m happy to get people in,” Ah Mow-Santos said. “But I’m not satisfied.

“We can always improve on everything. I told the team it’s not good that we’re winning and we’re hitting .190 (in Set 2) and .186 (in Set 3). We need to capitalize on the easy balls.”

Hawaii finished hitting .221 on the night compared to Fullerton’s .074. The Titans (6-11, 0-4) have now lost 10 in a row and haven’t won a set in conference play.

Freshman hitter Gabrielle Barcelos led Fullerton with seven kills and senior hitter Madeline Schneider had a team-high 11 digs. The Titans have lost 36 straight sets to the Wahine dating back to 2012.

Due to the arena being used by the Los Angeles Clippers and Sydney King pro basketball teams, Hawaii was relegated to Gym I for practices.

“It felt good to be back in the arena,” Wahine senior setter Faith Ma’afala said. “Like Coach said, we’re not satisfied with tonight, but not being satisfied is a positive. We go into (the UC Riverside match) hungry.”

Set 1 saw senior hitter Casey Castillo and Iosia combine for 10 of Hawaii’s 14 kills. Senior hitter McKenna Granato, the team kill leader, did her damage from the service line with three aces during a 9-0 run that had the Titans burning both timeouts, putting the Wahine up for good at 19-11.

Krug replaced senior middle Sarah Liva with the Wahine leading 22-12. Krug recorded her first point when she teamed with Angel Gaskin to stuff Tatiana Toleafoa at 22-13 in Set 2.

“Kama IS Hawaii in every way,” Ah Mow-Santos said. “She comes every day to practice and works hard. She knows what it means to play here.”

Castillo finished with nine kills, leaving her 20 shy of 400 for her career. Iosia is 11 away from 200 kills, while Ma’afala passed the 400-assist mark with 23 Friday night and now has 419.

The Titans had their best shot at taking a set off the Wahine in six years in Set 3. Fullerton chipped away at deficits of 12-5 and 15-11 to close to 17-16 on kills by Felicia Marshall.

Junior hitter Kirsten Sibley put down one of her three kills, an ace by Ma’afala and a lift on Titans setter Makenzi Abelman had the Wahine pull away 20-16.