One of Angelica Ljungqvist’s key recruits to the Hawaii beach volleyball program was already on campus.

Ljungqvist had worked with Amber Igiede as associate coach for the UH women’s volleyball team and after taking on head coaching duties with the beach program she asked the Rainbow Wahine middle blocker to give the outdoor game a shot.

“She was very hesitant at first,” Ljungqvist said. “I did get a first ‘no.’ ”

Igiede had played some beach volleyball during summers in high school in Baton Rouge, La., but came to dread the heaviness of running and jumping in sand and vowed against playing the sport in college.

But Ljungqvist persisted and convinced Igiede that the early struggles in picking up a new sport would be worth the effort. While there were indeed growing pains for the 6-foot-3 freshman, the sport has grown on Igiede over the course of the spring.

“The more I play, the more I love it,” Igiede said. “I love the vibe on the beach.”

After playing alongside Pani Napoleon for her first four matches, Igiede settled into a partnership with indoor teammate Brooke Van Sickle for the last 18 and the duo takes an eight-match winning streak into this week’s Big West tournament in Long Beach, Calif.

“I literally had it in my mind that I know I’m going to struggle with it,” Igiede said. “I really wanted to overcome this, and I think that it’s so much more satisfying.”

The payoff for persevering has included a Big West Pair of the Week honor for Igiede and Van Sickle two weeks ago after dropping just one set in a 7-0 run during a road trip to Seattle.

“We’re definitely not perfect, but we’ve definitely gotten better,” Igiede said. “We have so much more fun together now. We were not expecting anything, but we love working hard, and we love having fun.”

In the 2019 indoor season, Igiede hit .355 in the middle and led the Rainbow Wahine with 1.33 blocks per set. Playing on the beach has helped her refine her ball-handling skills and her vision on the other side of the set.

“As a middle blocker like I can sometimes go through a whole rotation without even touching the ball,” she said. “So I think it’s really beneficial for my game because I get to pass, I get to set, I get to hit balls that are either off the net or on the net. I get to move in the sand, which is harder than on hard floor, so I think it’s really benefiting my game.”

Igiede and Van Sickle (12-6 overall) helped the No. 15 BeachBows close the regular season at 14-8 going into Big West tournament, which opens Friday at Rosie’s Dog Beach in Long Beach.

UH enters the seven-team, double-elimination tournament as the No. 3 seed and will open against sixth-seeded Cal State Northridge at 8 a.m. on Friday. The BeachBows face No. 2 seed Long Beach State or No. 7 seed Sacramento State later in the day. The semifinal and final rounds are set for Saturday.

The Big West tournament does not carry an automatic bid to the eight-team NCAA championships in Alabama.

“The selection is out of our hands, and all we can do is to go in and play the Big West tournament and win that title,” Ljungqvist said.

Cal Poly, ranked sixth in the nation, is the top seed in the tournament and has a bye in the first round.

UH won the first three Big West championships after the sport was added in 2016. Cal Poly knocked off UH in 2019 and last year’s tournament was canceled.