FULLERTON, Calif. >> Hawaii prepared to meet one of the nation’s best women’s volleyball teams by routing the Big West Conference’s worst Saturday night.
The Rainbow Wahine needed only 75 minutes to dispatch Cal State Fullerton 25-3, 25-14, 25-13 at Titan Gym and remain a half-game behind first-place Cal Poly, ranked 12th nationally. Hawaii (13-6, 9-1) will put its four-match winning streak up against the Mustangs (19-1, 9-0) on Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Titans (0-9, 6-15) rank last in the Big West in total kills, kills per set, assists, aces, block solos and total blocks while sharing last place with UC Riverside in hitting percentage. So did next week’s confrontation for first place provide a distraction for the Wahine against the Titans?
“Not at all,” senior setter Faith Ma’afala said. “I think we approach every team the way we would approach it if we were playing Cal Poly, or anybody else. We come into the gym knowing that you respect your opponent, either way, for sure.”
Ma’afala established the tone in Set 1. Using a hard serve with minimal rotation, the Kamehameha graduate served for 17 successive points — including four consecutive aces — and kept the Titans out of system (7 hitting errors) during that 17-0 blitz.
“When you go on a run like that, it’s never just you, it’s everybody,” Ma’afala said. “When you go on a run like that, it’s important to stay disciplined. That’s definitely something our coaches make sure we do. I think we did a great job of being disciplined, understanding that we’re killing it behind the service line so let’s take care of everything else.”
Ma’afala’s decision to rely on the jump-float serve she used Saturday night ended a process of personal trial and error. She finished with a career-high six aces.
“Oh, man, I’ve gone through many serves,” she said. “I started last year jump-serving, then I went back to the serve I did tonight, then I did a stand-flow. For some reason this week, I kind of felt like my jump-float would do a little damage.”
After the Titans scored three straight points to narrow the margin to 17-3, it was senior McKenna Granato’s turn to serve. The Punahou product registered three of her four aces in an 8-0 closing run as the Wahine held the hosts to negative-.154 hitting.
“It’s nice just to come in and have two people serve a set,” said UH coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, her team setting a program record with 13 aces in a three-set match.
The Wahine were so dominant that Ah Mow-Santos played mostly reserves in the final two sets. Sophomore defensive specialist Rika Okino entered at 24-14 in Set 2, becoming the last of the 14 players on the travel roster to see the court.
“I think they were pretty focused,” Ah Mow-Santos said about her reserves. “As you can see, we let most of the bench play and their focus was still on the game.”
Fullerton made the starts of the final two sets competitive. The Titans held a 3-2 lead in Set 2 when the Wahine scored four successive points to take control at 6-3; they would lead by as many as 14 in taking a 2-0 lead.
In Set 3, the Titans led 6-2 before another service run by Ma’afala helped the Wahine go ahead 12-6. Ma’afala had two more aces and senior opposite Angel Gaskin four of her seven kills.
Junior hitter McKenna Ross finished with a match-high nine kills with no errors, while Granato added eight kills and four aces while playing just two sets. Hawaii handed the Titans their 15th straight defeat and ran the series record to 40-0.
