Rainbow Wahine fend off Cal State Northridge in 4

There are digs. And then there are dig-kills.

For a libero, it is as much fun as it is rare.

Just ask Tita Akiu. The senior transfer saw her overpass on serve-receive turn into a critical point Saturday night against Cal State Northridge, her first career kill as a Rainbow Wahine helping turn back the Matadors 25-18, 17-25, 25-20, 25-20 in Saturday’s Big West volleyball match at the Stan Sheriff Center.

“It felt good. I was happy it went over the net and got the point,” said Akiu, her kill putting Hawaii up 23-19. “I’m hitting 1.000 and it came at a good time.”

A crowd of 3,668 saw Hawaii (11-6, 7-1) remain in second place in the conference standings and a half-game behind No. 12 Cal Poly (17-1, 7-0).

The Rainbow Wahine got a balanced attack during the 1 hour and 56 minute match, with four players in double-digit kills: senior middle Sarah Liva, senior hitter Casey Castillo and junior middle Natasha Burns all with 12 and senior hitter McKenna Granato 11, five coming in Set 4.

Granato also had 12 digs for her eighth double-double of the season and added two aces, her second giving the Wahine match point. Akiu had 18 digs for her 16th match in double digits.

“It’s a win and I’m happy,” Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said after her team kept CSUN winless in 13 trips to Honolulu. “We’re still getting on getting off to a good start.

“We knew that (CSUN) was an athletic and scrappy team. It’s a good thing the girls turned it on in the fourth.”

The Wahine needed to do it late in Set 4 after leading 19-10. The Matadors (6-13, 2-5) closed to 21-19 before re-energizing behind Akiu’s kill.

Hawaii hits the road this week for matches at UC Riverside (6-12, 1-6) on Friday and Cal State Fullerton (6-14, 0-7) on Saturday.

Akiu said the one thing she hopes the team doesn’t pack is the mental breaks that took place Saturday.

“We’d be up by five and then we’d take a break,” the Kamehameha Schools product said. “It’s mostly our errors. When we are on top, we need to stay on top.”

Ah Mow-Santos would like to see her middles get more involved, particularly given the efficient night both Liva and Burns were having. The pair each had one hitting error in a combined 45 attempts, with both errors coming in Set 4.

“Feed the beasts and keep feeding them,” Ah Mow-Santos said.

CSUN (6-13, 2-5) had no problem feeding its kill leader, Aeryn Owens. The senior hitter had 13 kills on 35 swings, surpassing 1,400 kills for her career (1,402). Helping the Matadors more than stay in the match was senior libero Kristy Markle, who finished with 20 digs.

CSUN outblocked Hawaii 9-6, with junior middle Brianna Johnson in on seven. The Wahine also got out-aced 5-3.

Hawaii hit .375 while winning Set 1 handily. Momentum traded sides with the teams in Set 2, with the Wahine leaving their serve-receive behind. Owens set her career high in one service run with three aces that put the Matadors ahead for good at 7-4.

It never got any better for Hawaii, which had no answer for Owens, who had as many kills (six) as the Wahine had hitting errors. Owens’ last kill gave the Matadors their first set win in Honolulu since 2014.

Hawaii appeared to find its rhythm coming out of the locker room, jumping out to leads of 5-1, 9-2 and 18-12. CSUN’s scrappiness that Ah Mow-Santos said was a concern showed up with the Matadors rallying to 19-16 and 23-20. The Wahine held, finishing it out on kills by Burns and Castillo.