So much for that.
The high of Friday night’s victory over No. 11 Cal Poly turned into one of the most depressing lows ever for Hawaii. The Rainbow Wahine all but saw their NCAA tournament hopes — not to mention their Big West title aspirations — crushed by UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.
The Gauchos lowered the boom, and the broom, in 102 minutes at the Stan Sheriff Center, 28-26, 25-22, 25-21. Junior hitter Lindsey Ruddins had a match-high 11 kills, breaking loose for six in Set 3, as UCSB (14-9, 6-5) stunned the crowd of 4,184, as well as the Wahine.
It was painful to watch, but the repercussions will begin hurting on Monday when the Ratings Percentage Index comes out. Hawaii (RPI 75) has a win over Cal Poly (RPI 18) but now a loss to UCSB (RPI 98).
It is not out of the realm of possibility for Hawaii (14-7, 10-2) to share the conference crown with Cal Poly (19-2, 9-1), but it would take the Wahine to win out and the Mustangs to lose once. And even then there’s no guarantee of an at-large bid — Cal Poly holds all the tiebreakers.
Second place will not do it for an NCAA at-large bid but would be enough for a berth in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
The postseason scenario is daunting for Hawaii, which is on the road for matches at places the Wahine have struggled: Cal State Northridge on Friday and Long Beach State on Saturday.
“I’d say .00000001,” Wahine coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said of the NCAA tournament. “I don’t know what to say.
“I’ve been a player. I know what energy is like. The energy was not the same as (Friday). There was no energy in the locker room before the match, no energy in warm-ups. I don’t understand why we couldn’t continue to take care of business.”
Coming into the week, many considered Saturday a trap game. Hawaii expended a lot of energy on Friday, needing 2 hours and 22 minutes to rally past Cal Poly in five.
UC Santa Barbara had the entire week off to prepare for its lone match in Honolulu. The Gauchos used their advantage by becoming the first visiting Big West team to sweep the Wahine since Long Beach State did in 1993 in Klum Gym. The last conference team to sweep Hawaii in the Stan Sheriff Center was New Mexico State in 2008 in a Western Athletic Conference contest.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” senior setter Faith Ma’afala said. “To go from last night to tonight … It was all in our control.”
Hawaii lost control late in Set 1, unable to put down any of its six set points, starting at 24-20.
The Gauchos held each time, taking their first set point at 27-26. It would be the only one they needed, as freshman hitter Gigi Ruddins put down her third kill to end a sloppy set (UCSB hit .082, Hawaii .045).
Things continued to unravel for the Wahine, who were continued to be bothered by the short serves of Gaucho senior Emilia Petrachi. A 9-6 lead quickly turned into a 12-9 deficit and Hawaii chased, catching UCSB at 13.
It was tied four more times, the last at 18 when Ma’afala was called for an overreach on what appeared to be a ball that would not cross the net. What would have been a 19-17 Wahine lead ended up being a 19-17 Gauchos lead when sophomore middle Nicole Omwanghe put down a service overpass.
UCSB extended the lead to 21-18 and 24-20. Hawaii held off two sets points and, unlike the rally that the Gauchos used to close out Set 1, the Wahine were unable to replicate it when going down 2-0.
Hawaii had pretty much contained Lindsey Ruddins, second in the country in kills (5.43 kps), through the first two sets. She only had two kills in Set 1 and three in Set 2.
Picking up the slack was her younger sister Gigi, who did not play against the Wahine on Oct. 5 in Goleta, Calif. Gigi Ruddins finished with 10 kills, seven coming in the first two sets.
Set 3 was not as close as the final score. It was 24-16 before Hawaii made a late charge, using a block, a kill from junior hitter Kirsten Sibley and two Gauchos hitting errors and a service error to hold off five match points.
Junior hitter McKenna Ross led Hawaii with nine kills. Senior libero Tita Akiu and junior hitter-setter Norene Iosia each had 11 digs.
Hawaii won the dig war 56-51 but lost the block battle 10-8.
Note
Hawaii senior outside hitter Casey Castillo saw her consecutive start streak ended at 48 when she was not medically cleared to play in Saturday’s match. She had started all 28 matches as a junior and the first 20 matches this season.
