Dig Pink Night turned into Dig Iosia Night for No. 22 Hawaii’s do-everything senior Norene Iosia. The setter-hitter had a season-high 19 digs en route to her 11th double-double of the year as the Rainbow Wahine swept UC Riverside 25-17, 25-18, 25-12 in Friday’s Big West volleyball match at the Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 4,298 saw the Rainbow Wahine (15-3, 5-2) warm up for Sunday’s 25th anniversary celebration of the arena with their fourth sweep — second in a row — taking just 86 minutes. The Highlanders (5-13, 1-6), who haven’t taken a set in their past six matches, dropped to 0-26 against Hawaii.
“I’m not really focused on stats when I’m playing,” said Iosia, who added 17 assists, three kills and an ace to her stat line. “Just making sure the ball doesn’t touch the floor.
>> Click here to see photos of the volleyball match between Hawaii and UC Riverside.
“I thought our serving was consistent, the passing was good. The team stayed focused and did a really good job at taking care of business.”
Hawaii had a combined 10 blocks in splitting on the road last week at Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara. The Wahine had 10 Friday night, with junior middle Sky Williams in on seven.
Freshman middle Amber Igiede had a match-high 11 kills with just one hitting error. Senior McKenna Ross and freshman Hanna Hellvig each had 10 kills, and junior defensive specialist Kyra Hanawahine had three of Hawaii’s five aces.
“What can you say about her, Norene is doing it all,” Wahine coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “The girls look up to her. She needs to be on the court all the time.”
Through the stunning loss to UC Irvine on Oct. 4, Iosia was on the court half of the time, with Hawaii running a true 6-2 offense with Iosia and senior Bailey Choy alternating at three rotations in the back row. After the Anteaters, the Wahine went back to the modified 6-2 they ran last season, where Iosia set when she was in the back row and hit when she was in her three front-row rotations.
“I thought she did very good as usual,” Hellvig said of Iosia.
It was Hellvig’s 14th match in double-figure kills and the fourth for Ross.
Junior hitter Ayla Fresenius led the Highlanders with seven kills, four coming in the tighter-than-expected Set 2 that was tied 11 times.
Two kills by Hellvig helped Hawaii break the last tie (17-17) and gain separation at 21-17. The Wahine closed it out on a 4-0 run; two kills by Hellvig helped the Wahine gain separation at 21-18.
Hawaii sputtered early in Set 3. Leading 6-4, Igiede’s kill sparked a 13-1 blitz that had the Wahine up 19-5 and poised to hold an opponent to its lowest point total of the season.
Instead, UCR capitalized on five Wahine hitting errors to avoid that distinction, with the 12 points tying Washington for the fewest points scored in a set this year against the Wahine.
“I think the girls did great coming off the road and going through some troubling times,” Ah Mow said of being swept at Cal Poly on Oct. 11. “This was the team I saw at the start of the season. They stayed focused, kept their composure, followed the scouting report.
“I liked what I saw.”
Notes
Iosia is tied at No. 8 in aces with Nikki Taylor (117) and is 13th in digs (139). … Junior hitter Brooke Van Sickle, who missed the past three matches with an unspecified injury, was cleared to participate Friday but did not play. Junior hitter Jolie Rasmussen, who injured her right ankle Sept. 12 against West Virginia, has not been cleared to participate.
