Rainbow Wahine do all they can do with win over 49ers

LONG BEACH, Calif. >> First came winning. Now comes waiting.

Hawaii survived a hard-fought match against Long Beach State to earn a 19-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-19 win in front of 1,899 at the Walter Pyramid — and enter into a virtual tie with Cal Poly for first place in the Big West Conference women’s volleyball standings.

But after completing their current road trip Tuesday night with a nonconference match against Pepperdine, the Rainbow Wahine (16-7, 12-2) must wait until Nov. 15 to return to the court. When they do, the Wahine will host UC Irvine and UC Davis on successive nights at the Stan Sheriff Center to conclude the regular season.

Meanwhile, No. 17 Cal Poly (21-2, 11-1) has four more Big West matches, two on the road against UC Irvine and UC Davis. The Mustangs end the season at home against the two bottom teams: UC Riverside (8-15, 3-9) and Cal State Fullerton (6-19, 0-12).

“We’ll definitely keep them focused,” UH coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos said about her players. “I think it’s a good break for them to get some school done, let them get a break with their bodies, get some rehab going and then get back again.”

Senior hitter McKenna Granato became the 20th Wahine to record 1,000 career kills. Granato pounded a cross-court spike from the right side early in Set 3 to reach that milestone, finishing with 11 kills and 12 digs, her 10th double-double of the season.

“I think it’s just cool to be a part of that group of people who have that honor,” said the senior from Kailua, who had six hitting errors through the first two sets but just three the rest of the night. “I just needed to get into a rhythm, and I wasn’t really in a rhythm in that first set.

“I also started freaking out, which I don’t need. But my teammates helped me. They were telling me to get it together and saying, ‘You’ve got this.’ “

It was a reminder Granato’s teammates needed to follow against the 49ers (13-13, 5-8), who had lost their previous four meetings with Hawaii.

“Long Beach State just did a better job of controlling the ball, getting it into their strong hitters and just tooling us,” said junior setter-hitter Norene Iosia, who had 18 assists, 15 digs, six kills and four aces. “Their setters did a very good job of mixing up their shots and we weren’t prepared in taking care of assignments, blocking-wise.”

The 49ers used that control to win Set 1 when the Wahine had no answer for the two left-side hitters, senior Tyler Spriggs and junior Hailey Harward. Each had seven kills with no errors, with four kills by Harward coming during a 10-2 blitz that enabled the hosts to turn a 3-3 tie into a 13-5 advantage.

Senior opposite Angel Gaskin and sophomore middle Sky Williams provided sparks for the Wahine in Set 2. Gaskin had two kills and Williams one to put Hawaii ahead at 20-17.

Harward had just one kill in Set 2, but Spriggs got away for another seven, not committing an error until being blocked by Iosia and Williams to end Set 2.

“She played a huge role,” Iosia said of Gaskin. “She’s been our connection we’ve been working on to get better, just feed her because we really don’t set her as much. She did a great job producing.”

Iosia, Granato and Gaskin played pivotal roles at different junctures of Set 3. At 6-6, Iosia had consecutive aces for a 9-6 lead. At 12-12, Granato added successive cross-court kills to put the Wahine ahead 14-12. Then as UH held a 19-16 lead, Gaskin contributed two kills and two block assists as the visitors ended the set with a 6-1 spree.

“We started getting better timing on the outsides,” Ah Mow-Santos said. “We’ve got to hit before they form their block and run something to make the middle blocker try to move.”

The turning point of Set 4 came on a successful video replay challenge by Hawaii. The Beach appeared to tie it at 12 on a kill by Emma Kirst.

Ah Mow-Santos challenged that the attack was long and, instead of a tie, the reversal gave Hawaii a 13-11 lead that was quickly extended to 15-11 and 20-13.

“I didn’t think I was going to get the call,” Ah Mow-Santos said.

“I think that point really helped change the energy on the court,” Iosia said about the video reversal. “It gave us more momentum to just keep pushing throughout the game.”

Spriggs pounded a match-high 18 kills, but just four after Set 2. Harward had her 10th double-double with 10 kills and 15 digs.