No. 5 UH falls to No. 6 LSU to go 2-2 in East-West challenge

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It isn’t the doubles combination that No. 5 Hawaii is looking for this beach volleyball season. What has paired up for the Rainbow Wahine over two weekends of play is effort and execution — the first good, the second not so much.

The uneven performance at the East Meets West Challenge in Manhattan Beach, Calif., had the SandBows flying home still at .500. Hawaii (4-4) split its matches on Sunday, rallying past No. 9 Florida International 3-2 but falling to No. 6 LSU 3-2.

“It’s been a yo-yo season so far with this young team,” SandBows coach Jeff Hall said in a telephone call Sunday. “We play very competitively one dual then the next play a little flat.

“We’re not happy with a 2-2 weekend, but we’re not going to freak out. We need to get better, as coaches we need to coach them better. I think this is good for us, we’ve never been in this situation before. It will be nice to be back and playing at home.”

Hawaii hosts the Heineken Hawaii Invitational on Saturday and Sunday at Queen’s Beach. The field includes Nebraska (9-1), Boise State (3-3) and No. 7 Cal (7-1), the latter whose roster includes junior Chloe Luyties, who transferred from Hawaii after last season, and redshirt freshman Jacqueline Ribeiro, daughter of former UH men’s basketball player Fabio.

On Sunday morning, the SandBows trailed 2-1 against the Panthers (5-3) before rallying with up victories at Flights 3 and 4. The deciding point came at No. 3 when Julia Scoles-Ari Homayun outlasted Lina Bernier-Erika Zembyla, 21-14, 17-21, 21-19. Scoles-Homayun trailed 14-11 in Set 3 and held off three match points before pulling out the win.

In the afternoon dual with the Tigers (8-4), LSU clinched it 3-1 after Taryn Kloth-Ashley Allmer swept Paige Dreeuws-Pani Napoleon at Flight 4, 21-12, 21-15. Scoles-Homayun, the reigning Big West pairs of the week, finished the weekend 4-0 with a 26-24, 16-21, 15-9 win over Tori Rodriguez-Kelli Agne

“They continue to groove together,” Hall said of the new Scoles-Homayun pairing. “Julia is such a raw, physical talent, and Ari is such an experienced player. It’s been a pretty good team so far.”