In a dramatic turnaround, Rainbow Wahine reverse-sweep USC

It was a night of resilience and redemption in Manoa.

After leaving SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center after its previous two matches contemplating missed opportunities, the University of Hawaii women’s volleyball team appeared headed for a quicker exit on Saturday after dropping the first two sets to Southern California.

But three stunning sets later, the Rainbow Wahine were the ones celebrating a rousing comeback before a raucous crowd of 4,925.

A night after hitting for a negative percentage in a four-set loss to USC, UH outside hitter Riley Wagoner put away five of her team-high 17 kills in the deciding set and setter Kate Lang’s block closed out a 22-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-16, 15-8 Rainbow Wahine victory over the Women of Troy to earn a split of the Hawaiian Airlines Volleyball Series.

“Amazing,” was UH coach Robyn Ah Mow’s assessment of the performance that rewarded the crowd for sticking around through the rough start.

“Going into the third, (the coaches) were trying to figure out lineups. They stayed in (the tunnel) and talked. I don’t know what they were talking about, came back out and was just literally a different team. I loved the fight in them — they never gave up.”

UH middle blocker Amber Igiede helped power the Rainbow Wahine comeback with 15 kills — four coming in the fifth set — on .400 hitting and six blocks.

Wagoner finished Friday’s match with 12 kills and 13 hitting errors as the Wahine (3-5) compiled a total of 32 attack errors in the loss. The junior bounced back with just three errors in her team-high 36 swings to hit. 389 and also contributed eight digs and two aces.

“Riley is a baller,” Ah Mow said. “I’m going to be very truthful all the time with the girls and she got it hard yesterday. She got it hard in the locker room and then she turned up and she did exactly what we told her to do today.

“She touched balls on the block, she served, she played defense and she passed good balls. That girl came back after being down … and she was awesome.”

Lang dished out 41 assists for a UH attack that hit. 278 for the match and .380 over the final three sets. On match point, the 5-foot-10 sophomore made an adjustment to take away the seam to stuff 6-foot-2 Emilia Weske and cap the 1,300th win in the program’s history.

“It’s probably going to be one of my favorite college career plays, (and) just games, period,” Lang said. “I turned around and my entire team is going toward me. It was insane it was so fun.”

UH junior Kendra Ham delivered a momentum-turning eight-point service run in the third set and had a five-point run in the fifth to spark an 8-1 Wahine surge to close out the match.

“A huge thing recently in practice has been confidence, and just owning our serve,” Ham said. “That’s a personal skill, so just really going back there and having the confidence to say, ‘I’m gonna do this.’ ”

USC outside hitter Skylar Fields was close to unstoppable for much of the first two sets and hammered a match-high 25 kills in 51 attempts. The Wahine were able to slow her down a bit late and she finished the night hitting .392. Jordan Wilson added 15 kills for the Trojans (5-3) and the Wahine outblocked USC 10-6.

After USC held off UH in the first set and took command of the second with a 13-3 run, the Women of Troy led 12-10 in the third when Fields soared from the back row for her 14th kill.

That would be USC’s final lead of the night.

A Wagoner kill gave UH a sideout, Ham spent the next eight points on the service line and the Wahine led 18-12 when Wagoner pushed a kill off the USC block. USC made another push to close to 24-22, but UH converted on its second set point with a block by Igiede and Akana.

The Wahine opened the fourth set with a 5-1 run and led 8-4 when Ah Mow won her second challenge of the match that reversed a USC point when the review found a net violation. Caylen Alexander followed with back-to-back aces and added a third after USC spent its second timeout to give UH a 12-4 cushion. USC errors mounted as UH opened up a 22-12 lead and the Wahine finished off the set to go to a fifth for the third time this season.

UH lost to Texas A&M and UCLA in five earlier this season. This time, Igiede scored UH’s first three points, and after USC tied it at 7-7, she gave UH the lead for good with a kill off the block. A dig by Talia Edmonds led to a Wagoner kill. Wagoner tapped down another kill and teamed with Igiede on a block of Fields to open an 11-7 lead with Ham on the service line.

The win capped UH’s nonconference schedule — the Wahine open Big West play at home on Sept. 23 against UC Davis. UH will break up a bye week with its alumnae game and Green vs. White scrimmage on Friday.