Rainbow Wahine swept by No. 25 San Diego to close Texas A&M Invitational
JASON KANESHIRO / JKANESHIRO@STARADVERTISER.COM
The University of Hawaii women’s volleyball team met on the court following a loss to No. 25 San Diego today in the Texas A&M Invitational in College Station, Texas.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas >> No. 25 San Diego blitzed Hawaii early then held off the Rainbow Wahine late in a morning sweep today in the Texas A&M Invitational.
The scores were 25-18, 25-21, 25-23.
UH middle blocker Amber Igiede led the Rainbow Wahine with 11 kills in 30 attempts and finished with four blocks. Freshman Caylen Alexander sparked the Wahine off the bench with 10 kills in 19 swings with one error and served up three aces in the third set.
The Wahine closed their opening weekend in Texas at 0-3 and make their home debut on Thursday against Texas State in the Outrigger Volleyball Challenge at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
San Diego’s Grace Frohling, a 6-foot-5 opposite, led the Toreros with 10 kills. Breana Edwards added nine kills and USD capped a perfect run through the tournament.
A little after 10 a.m. local time (5 a.m. in Hawaii), San Diego opened the match with an ace and the Toreros pounced on shaky passing by the Wahine to break out to an 11-1 run capped by Madi Allen’s back-to-back aces. A solo block by Igiede seemed to wake the Wahine from their slumber and Alexander repeatedly hit high off the Toreros’ tall block to put away five kills in a 10-3 surge that cut the USD lead to 15-12.
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The Toreros reclaimed control with a five-point run capped by a block by Leyla Blackwell and Breana Edwards and closed out the set with a Blackwell kill.
USD posted three blocks and an ace early in the second set in taking a 10-5 lead. Igiede kept UH within striking distance with five kills and the Wahine closed to 21-18 on her solo block. But USD surged away again with the aid of two UH hitting errors and finished off the set to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
UH took its first lead of the match to start the third set and built a 12-6 margin when Igiede sent back an overpass. USD trailed 15-11 before going on a six-point run to move ahead.
There would be three more ties in the set, the last coming at 21-21 on Alexander’s third ace of the set. Edwards broke the tie and the Toreros went up 23-21 when a UH attack went into the antenna. USD managed to trade sideouts from there and the match ended with a UH service error.
UH middle blocker Tiffany Westerberg was named to the All-Tournament team.
