Wahine beach volleyball team beats Saint Mary’s, Arizona State in Bay Area Classic

There were few road bumps for the No. 5 Hawaii beach volleyball team when it played its first away duals of the season.

The Rainbow Wahine (5-2) went 2-0 on Saturday’s opening day of the Bay Area Classic at Stanford, Calif., with a 4-1 win over Saint Mary’s (0-4) and a 5-0 sweep of No. 19 Arizona State (2-2). The SandBows won a combined nine of the 10 flights in straight sets with only Kylin Loker and Anna Maidment losing at Flight 4 in the opener against the Gaels.

It was the first time Loker-Maidment had paired together. They rebounded with a 2-0 victory after moving down to Flight 5 in the dual against the Sun Devils.

Hawaii puts its three-match winning streak on the line against Utah (1-1) today then finish the tournament against host and No. 20 Stanford (2-4). It will be the third time in nine days the SandBows see the Cardinal; Hawaii won both meetings last weekend at the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic at Queen’s Beach.

“The girls were ready today, even with the early start (7 a.m. Hawaii time),” SandBows coach Jeff Hall said. “We found our rhythm early.”

Hall said the only change he might make today is to use Harlee Kekauoha-Norene Iosia, who won twice at the non-counting Flight 6, at Flight 5.