What is better than senior night? How about two?
No. 18 Hawaii gave the Stan Sheriff Center crowd a sneak peak of tonight’s final regular-season home match with a senior-led sweep of Cal State Northridge on Thursday. Senior hitter McKenna Ross had a match-high 11 kills, senior setter-hitter Norene Iosia her 17th double-double of the year (21 assists, 10 digs) and the three other Rainbow Wahine concluding their careers contributed in the 25-18, 25-12, 25-14 sweep of the Matadors.
A crowd of 4,343 watched for 84 minutes as Hawaii (23-3, 13-2) clinched a share of its first Big West title since 2016, but because of a tiebreaker, the Wahine have already clinched the conference’s automatic spot in next month’s NCAA tournament. The question remains: Will tonight’s match with longtime rival Long Beach State (12-15, 9-6) be the final home match of the season or will Hawaii host the NCAA first and second rounds for the first time since 2013?
That will be answered on Dec. 1 during Selection Sunday.
The more immediate question: Will tonight be the first sellout for women’s volleyball since 2013? As of late Thursday, some 2,100 tickets remained and “we’d be super excited to have that many fans,” Ross said. “Playing here is so special.
“Tonight gave us confidence going into tomorrow.”
Hawaii ran its winning streak to 10 with its 11th victory over the Matadors (12-16, 7-9). Graduating junior libero Rika Okino had 10 digs, her fifth match in a row in double digits and 10th on the season. Bailey Choy, playing as a graduate student, had 15 assists and senior hitter Kirsten Sibley, playing in just her ninth match this year, had a season-high four kills and was in on two of Hawaii’s 10 blocks.
“Sibley was awesome,” Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “She’s been having a really good week in practice and she did awesome tonight.
“This was a good game. It was clean volleyball. The passing was great. The blocking was great. I loved it.”
Hawaii hit a season-high .398, including .577 in Set 2 when the Wahine committed just one hitting error.
The Wahine never trailed the entire match, with the Matadors managing to tie just twice, at 1-1 and 2-2 in Set 3.
Hawaii had four aces, two by junior hitter Brooke Van Sickle. CSUN coach Jeff Stork acknowledged the struggles on serve-receive when Iosia was in the box — she served 21 times with one ace but caused a number of overpasses that the Wahine put back down for kills.
“When she did a little bit off the pace or changed the direction of it a little bit, we struggled with that,” he said. “A couple of short serves here and there.
“Hawaii’s a good team. I don’t know how many kills they had, but far more than us. You gotta give Hawaii credit for playing well.”
Hawaii had a large edge statistically across the board: 45-31 in kills, 47-32 in digs, 4-0 in aces and 10-2 in blocks. Junior middle Sky Williams was in on six stuffs and freshman middle Amber Igiede four as the Wahine had their 15th match with 10 or more blocks.
Sophomore hitter Nicole Nevarez had 11 kills and junior libero Makayla Bradford 11 digs for the Matadors. Senior setter Kamalu Makekau-Whittaker (Kamehameha-Hawaii) had 17 assists in her final match.
Iosia said tonight will be both bittersweet and surreal. Adding to the night is being able to win the conference title outright for the first time since she was a freshman.
“That’s pretty exciting,” said Iosia, who continues to move up several career charts. She needs five aces to tie associate coach Angelica Ljungqvist for No. 4 (133) and is four digs away from tying Suzanne Eagye for No. 9 (1,138).
Notes
With tonight’s match nearing a sellout, additional parking plans are being put in place. There is a free shuttle service from upper campus Zones 13 (along Correa Road) and 4 (near Korean Studies Building on East-West Road). Additional parking at Zone 22 near the Hawaiian Studies Building will not have shuttle service.
The arena gates will open 15 minutes early (5:45 p.m.). Drivers are encouraged to use the Waialae Avenue gate for alternate entry.
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BIG WEST VOLLEYBALL
Today, 7 p.m.
Long Beach State (12-15, 9-6) at No. 18 Hawaii (23-3, 13-2)
>>TV: OC 16 (Ch. 16/1016)
>> Radio: 1420-AM/92.7-FM
>> Series: Hawaii leads Beach, 36-18-1
