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A sweep to open a homestand served as the main course.
Celebrating the victory with fans in the stands only sweetened the evening.
Greeted by home fans in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center for the first time in nearly two years, Hawaii treated the 500 in attendance to a dominant second set and returned from last week’s road split with a 25-19, 25-7, 25-22 win over UC Davis on Friday.
A week after being on the other side of a quick sweep in a loss at UC Santa Barbara, the Rainbow Wahine (13-6, 10-1 Big West) hit .333 in a balanced performance and enter today’s match with UC Riverside still tied with UCSB for first place in the conference.
“It’s like a redemption game coming back from the road trip. I think the energy we created was ‘All right, let’s compete, it’s time to go,’ ” UH middle blocker Skyler Williams said. “The fans were just a bonus and it was awesome to have them back.”
UH welcomed spectators into the arena for a Rainbow Wahine match for the first time since Dec. 7, 2019, a win over San Diego in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. It also marked the first event with fans in the arena since the UH men’s volleyball team’s match with BYU on March 6, 2020.
Attendance will again be limited to 500 for today’s 7 p.m. match between the Wahine and UC Riverside (5-16, 1-10).
The restriction is set to be lifted for UH’s next homestand in two weeks.
Those in the building on Friday were witness to a remarkable service run by UH senior Brooke Van Sickle, who fired four of her season-high five aces in a 10-0 Wahine surge in the second set.
Van Sickle sat out the final two sets of UH’s four-set win at Cal State Northridge a week ago today and came out firing on Friday.
After UH pulled away to claim the opening set, Van Sickle put away her eighth kill in her first 11 attempts, then went back to serve with UH leading 6-3 in the second. The Aggies couldn’t return two of Van Sickle’s next three serves, she drilled back-to-back aces later in the run and UH had taken a 15-3 lead by the time the Aggies finally got her off the service line.
“During the service run I felt like I was dialed in,” Van Sickle said. “I had a go-at-it mentality.”
Van Sickle finished the night with 12 kills in 27 swings and hit .460 in the season series with UC Davis after posting 14 kills in the first meeting on Sept. 25 in Northern California.
UH hit .396 that night and turned in another efficient performance to complete a six-set sweep of the series with the Aggies (8-15, 4-8). UH’s five primary attackers each had at least seven kills, with setter Kate Lang posting a double-double with 35 assists and a match-high 16 digs.
The Wahine held UC Davis to .094 hitting with nine blocks and 50 digs to the Aggies’ 40.
“As a team we’ve been working really hard on defense and talked about how serve-and-pass is literally the entire game,” said Van Sickle, who handled 12 serve receptions “If you can’t pass the ball, you can’t do anything really. I feel we came in the gym this week and were hitting the ground a lot.”
The rout in the second set marked UH’s widest margin in a set since a 25-3 blowout in the opening set at Cal State Fullerton on Oct. 20, 2018. Friday’s third set was far more competitive and UC Davis put together a 6-1 run to close to within a point at 21-20. But UH again pulled away and ended the match with Van Sickle’s final kill.
Williams finished with nine kills in 15 error-free attempts and teamed with freshman Martyna Leoniak on seven blocks.
Coming off her breakout performance at CSUN last weekend, Leoniak added 10 kills on .318 hitting, and the 6-foot-3 freshman’s blocking total set a season high as she formed a wall alongside the 6-1 Williams.
“Sky does a good job of blocking. When (Leoniak) got the first one, I was, ‘Oh yes, she got one, let’s go, maybe one more,’” UH coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “I think she did a great job tonight and did her assignments.”
UH’s passing allowed Lang to connect with Williams and Amber Igiede (eight kills, .368) in the middle while also feeding Van Sickle, Leoniak and Riley Wagoner (seven kills).
Olivia Utterback led UC Davis with 11 kills, but middle blocker Josephine Ough, who entered the night hitting .392 this season, finished with two kills and didn’t play after the first set.
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