Hawaii rallies past Missouri to remain undefeated

Surprises come in many forms, both good and bad.

Hawaii’s first road trip of the season started off badly with a flight delay that got the volleyball team into Waco, Texas, over half a day later than expected. Saturday’s match with No. 17 Missouri wasn’t looking too good either when the Rainbow Wahine saw themselves down 1-0 and 2-1 to the Tigers at Baylor’s Ferrell Center.

It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t pretty, but Hawaii likely surprised most volleyball followers — including its head coach — when it rallied past Missouri 17-25, 28-26, 16-25, 25-16, 16-14 in 2 hours and 24 minutes. The victory sets up a true championship of the round-robin Baylor Classic today when the No. 13 Wahine (10-0) take on the No. 5 Bears (8-0), a contest between two of the remaining four undefeated teams in the country.

“It was pretty fun but a little stressful, too,” Hawaii senior setter Norene Iosia said in a telephone call. “We pulled it out because, I think, of the fight we have, being aggressive and carrying it through the end.

“Give props to our freshmen. They’ve been working hard. The last block was amazing.”

The last of Hawaii’s 15 blocks came courtesy of two first-year players. Freshman hitter Hanna Hellvig and middle Amber Igiede teamed to stuff Missouri junior hitter Leketor Member-Meneh on the Wahine’s fourth match point.

“It felt awesome,” Igiede said in a telephone call. “We always say every game that we have to stay connected, have to create energy. The energy came in late, but it came.

“We have to make sure it carries into tomorrow.”

The Wahine finished with a 15-8 edge in blocks over the Tigers, finally able to slow down 6-foot-4 junior hitter Kylie DeBerg at the end. DeBerg finished with a match-high 25 kills on 64 swings and Member-Meneh added 21 on 56 attempts.

Hawaii was led by junior middle Sky Williams’ 13 kills, Hellvig’s 12 and a season-high 11 from senior hitter McKenna Ross. Hellvig, the reigning Big West Freshman of the Week, turned in her third consecutive double-double, finishing with 11 digs.

Iosia also added a double-double (21 assists, 11 digs) and moved into a tie for ninth in career aces with Jessica Sudduth (105) with two against Missouri.

The Tigers outdug the Wahine 83-77, led by freshman libero Leandra Mangual-Duran’s 23.

It was the third win over a Top 25 team this season for Hawaii, the others coming in five sets against then-No. 21 San Diego and in four against then-No. 13 Washington in the season-opening Hawaiian Airlines Classic. Today’s contest with Baylor is a rematch of last year’s NCAA tournament first-round match won by the Bears in five.

“I’m really proud of them, especially with all the travels issues we had,” Wahine coach Robyn Ah Mow said in a telephone call. “It was a tough match and it feels good to win another (five-setter).

“The girls listened well every other set, followed the scouting report every other set. Our freshmen are getting it done. Baylor is very physical, it’s going to be another tough match. The girls need to get some rest and dig deep again.”

The travel delays disrupted Hawaii’s match preparation. The team, originally scheduled to leave later on Thursday, didn’t get out of Honolulu until Friday morning, arriving in Waco that evening, too late to watch the Baylor-Missouri match or get in a practice.

Ah Mow said the team squeezed in a video session Friday night. Saturday morning included an hour serve-and-pass practice and another video session prior to the 1 p.m. (8 a.m. Hawaii time) match with Missouri.

“This was a huge surprise,” Ah Mow said. “When we knew we weren’t leaving on time we told the girls we just gotta deal with it, suck it up and keep moving. We can’t do anything about it.”

Hawaii had trouble closing out two of the three sets it won, both times seeing Missouri fend off multiple set and match points to tie late. In Set 2, the Wahine took the first of what would be four set points at 24-21, only to have Mizzou not just tie at 24 but take its own set point at 25-24. The Tigers had another at 26-25, but Hawaii put together a 3-0 run on a kill by Hellvig, a Missouri hitting error and a lift call on setter Andrea Fuentes.

In the deciding Set 5, the Wahine enjoyed leads of 5-1, 11-5 and 14-11. The Tigers again rallied, tying at 14.

A kill by Ross gave Hawaii its fourth match point and the Wahine ended it with the emphatic block of Member-Meneh. After coming to Waco unbeaten, the Tigers left with a two-match losing streak.

“This was a hard-fought contest by two great teams,” first-year interim coach Josh Taylor, a Punahou graduate, said in a postmatch interview. “There were so many ups and downs. I think both teams deserve credit for battling adversity and showing a lot of fight in tough spots.”

Note:

Among the crowd of 251 were about 20 members of Igiede’s family and club team that made the six-hour-plus drive from her hometown of Baton Rouge, La.