Wahine wary of hard-earned target on back

Numbers don’t tell the whole story. 

Even video doesn’t always present the complete picture.

But one certainty fuels the University of Hawaii women’s volleyball team’s preparations when the Big West season rolls around.

“Everybody guns for Hawaii,” UH coach Robyn Ah Mow said.

The target the Rainbow Wahine annually wears during conference play is well earned. UH has won a total of 25 conference titles — 10 in the Big West and 15 in the Western Athletic Conference — and enters Friday’s Big West opener against UC Davis as the two-time defending champion and preseason favorite.

The Wahine have gone 60-8 against BWC competition since Ah Mow took over as head coach in 2017 and last year’s 18-2 mark was just enough to finish a game ahead of UC Santa Barbara, which handed UH both of its conference defeats.

The conference’s coaches projected another tight race for the title — and the Big West’s automatic, and likely only, berth to the NCAA Tournament — with UH receiving six first-place votes in the preseason poll followed by UCSB’s five.

Polls and projections give way to results starting this week and the Rainbow Wahine again expect to see performances that often belie the records.

“We were talking about (how) every team is going to be playing their best against us,” freshman outside hitter Caylen Alexander said of conversations with the UH returnees. “Teams may not look that great on film, but when they play us they’re going to be playing a whole different game.”

The Wahine enter the conference season at 3-5 for the second straight year, coming within a few tantalizing points of reversing those numbers during a high-powered nonconference portion of the schedule that included current No. 4 San Diego and No. 10 Pittsburgh. UCLA and USC were also ranked earlier in the season.

Given the sets and matches that tilted the other way, “a big focus for the Big West is just making sure that we finish,” said Alexander, who will make her conference debut on Friday.

Some of the teams expected to contend appear to be heating up entering the Big West season. UCSB was 0-5 after losses to current No. 17 Pepperdine and No. 14 Baylor but has won four of its last five. Cal Poly sat at 0-6 following five-set losses to Pepperdine and No. 18 Washington in Seattle, but has won its last nine sets.

The Mustangs open the conference season against new-look Long Beach State, which started 4-1 before a loss at then-No. 2 Nebraska and a series split with Loyola Marymount.

The Wahine had a bye week following their rousing reverse sweep of USC on Sept. 10. Along with scouting the upcoming opponents, the UH coaches spent the break, “Watching our side seeing what things we can improve on and just to smooth out our game a little bit more,” assistant coach Kaleo Baxter said. “That’s what it’s going to come down to a lot of the time, it’s what we’re doing on our side of the net.”

The Wahine open the Big West season against UC Davis on Friday then close their seven-match homestand against UC Riverside on Saturday.

“We can play the most difficult preseason schedule and play really high-level teams that are coming from Power Five conferences and we’ll play a conference match and it’s still very difficult to win,” Baxter said. “We have to play our best volleyball always because we know were going to get the best out of every team.”

Following is a look at the Wahine and the rest of the Big West (in order of appearance on UH’s schedule).

BIG WEST OUTLOOK

Hawaii (3-5)

Coach: Robyn Ah Mow (fifth season)

Names to know: Amber Igiede (MB, 6-2, Jr.), Caylen Alexander (OH, 6-0, Jr.), Kate Lang (S, 5-10, So.).

Outlook: Although the Rainbow Wahine ended up falling to UCLA in five sets, a sequence in the third highlighted Igeide’s ability to take over a match. She had a personal five-point run starting with a solo block in the middle followed by a kill then ranging from pin-to-pin for two more blocks before another solo stuff in the middle. She ranks second in the conference and 19th nationally with a .411 hitting percentage and is fourth in the Big West with 1.23 blocks per set. Her 12 solo roofs lead the Big West. OH Riley Wagoner averages 2.84 kills per set and Alexander has emerged as a threat at the net (2.47 kps) and from the service line with 15 aces.

UC Davis (6-5, 1-0 BWC)

Coach: Dan Conners (10th season)

Names to know: Josephine Ough (MB, 6-6, Sr.), Demari Webb (OH, 6-0, Jr.), Olivia Utterback (Opp., 6-0, So.)

UH meetings: Friday (H), Oct. 29 (A)

Outlook: The Aggies opened Big West play with a four-set win at home over UC Riverside on Tuesday. Webb hit a season-high .483 with 14 kills in 29 attacks without an error and UCD hit .407 as a team in the fourth set. Webb leads the Aggies with 2.52 kills per set followed by Ough (2.32) in the middle and Utterback (2.05) on the right side. UCD leads the Big West with 76 aces (1.81 per set), with OH Megan Lenn serving up a team-high 19. Setter Casi Newman runs the attack with 7.76 assists per set.

UC Riverside (2-8, 0-1)

Coach: Nicky Cannon (first season)

Names to know: Isabella Scarlett (MB, 6-1, Sr.), Tayler Hifo (S, 5-8, Gr.), Anya Green (MB, 6-1, So.)

UH meetings: Saturday (H), Oct. 27 (A)

Outlook: Cannon was hired in April after three years as an assistant at Cal State Fullerton. Hifo joined the program as a transfer from BYU and her triple-double against Idaho State (10 kills, 17, digs, 51 assists) was the first in the Big West since UH’s Norene Iosia pulled off the feat in 2018. Hifo averages 7.95 assists per set and isn’t shy about looking to score in her turns through the front row with 44 kills on 119 attempts. She can also score from the back with a league-high 21 aces. Scarlett has increased her production (2.74 kps this season vs. 1.60 in 2021) and efficiency (.332 vs. .183) as a returning starter.

Cal State Fullerton (6-2)

Coach: Nicole Polster (second season)

Names to know: Julia Crawford (OH, 5-9, Sr.), Elizabeth Schuster (S, 5-7, Sr.), Nadia Koanui (L/DS, 5-6, Fr.).

UH meetings: Sept. 30 (A), Nov. 5

Outlook: As interim head coach last year, Polster led the Titans to their highest BWC win total since 2012 when they finished at 9-11 (12-15 overall). After a 1-2 start, the Titans enter conference play on a five-match winning streak and are coming off a reverse-sweep against Grand Canyon on Saturday. Fullerton’s defense frustrated UH in a five-set battle last season and the Titans rank sixth nationally with 17.50 digs per set, led by Koanui, a Kamehameha alumna, at 4.13. Schuster leads the Big West with 9.44 assists per set and with Crawford (3.16 kps) returning as her most productive scorer.

Long Beach State (5-3)

Coach: Tyler Hildebrand (first season)

Names to know: Zayna Meyer (S, 6-1, Fr.), Morgan Chacon (OH, 5-11, Jr.), Katie Kennedy (Opp/MB, 6-1, Jr.)

UH meetings: Oct. 1 (A), Nov. 4 (H)

Outlook: There are new faces on the bench and throughout the lineup for the Beach. Hildebrand was an All-America setter for the LBSU men’s team, spent five years as an assistant at Nebraska and has a gold medalist on staff in assistant Kim Hill. Meyer redshirted at BYU before transferring to LBSU and the Big West coaches voted her to the preseason all-conference team. She has twice won the BWC setter of the week award and ranks second in the conference with 9.36 assists per set. Chacon was a two-time All-ACC second-team pick at Florida State and enters Big West play with a league-leading 3.94 kills per set.

UC Irvine (7-3)

Coach: Ashlie Hain (seventh season)

Names to know: Onye Ofoegbu (MB, 6-3, Jr.), Joy Umeh (OH, 5-8, Jr.), Campbell Jensen (L, 5-10, Fr.)

UH meetings: Oct. 7 (H), Nov. 12 (A)

Outlook: Ofoegbu and Umeh form the most dynamic combo in the Big West through nonconference play and both have a conference offensive player of the week award. Ofeogbu leads the BWC in points per set (4.85) and hitting percentage (.466) and ranks second in kills (3.94) and blocks (1.36) per set). Her kill percentage (130 kills, 26 errors, 223 attempts) places her third in the nation. Umeh is fourth in the BWC in kills average (3.67) while hitting .284. Setters Kelly Negron and Indy DeSmet run the most productive (14.76 kps) and efficient (.274) attack in the Big West. Jensen leads the league with 4.67 digs per set.

UC San Diego (7-5)

Coach: Ricci Luyties (12th season)

Names to know: Ava McInnes (OH, 6-2, So.), Shara Da Silva (MB, 6-1, Jr.), Naya Dong (L, 5-5, Sr.)

UH meetings: Oct. 8 (H), Nov. 11 (A)

Outlook: The Tritons made their Division I debut last year and posted a win over Cal in this season’s opening week. McInnes is the Big West’s most active attacker with a league-high 469 swings over 48 sets and ranks third in the conference with 3.73 kills per set. Setter Izzy Strand, a 6-1 junior, has seven double-double performances while averaging 8.45 assists and 2.53 digs per set. Dong, an ‘Iolani graduate, anchors the back row with 3.50 digs per set, good for sixth in the conference. She’s reached double figures in each match this season with a high of 20 in a four-set win over Air Force.

CSU Bakersfield (3-9)

Coach: Giovana Melo (ninth season)

Names to know: Haley McCluskey (OH, 6-0, Sr.), Lizzie Binder (OH, 6-2, Fr.), Laura De Pra (S, 6-0, Sr.)

UH meetings: Oct. 14 (A), Nov. 20 (H)

Outlook: The Roadrunners closed last season with the program’s third postseason appearance, playing in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship. CSUB lost All-Big West first-team setter Seleisa Elisaia to Penn State and added De Pra (8.84 aps) as a transfer from Louisiana Tech. McCluskey returns as the featured attacker and leads the team with 3.26 kills per set followed by Binder at 2.74. Serve receive has been an issue for the Roadrunners, who have given up 109 aces in 12 matches or 2.42 per set.

Cal Poly (3-7)

Coach: Caroline Walters (third season)

Names to know: Maia Dvoracek (Opp., 6-1, Sr.), Tommi Stockham (OH, 6-2, So.), Meredith Phillips (MB, 6-3, Sr.)

UH meetings: Oct. 15 (A), Nov. 18 (H)

Outlook: The Mustangs tested themselves with a challenging nonconference schedule and Friday’s match with Long Beach State will mark their season debut at the Mott Athletics Center. Dvoracek was an All-Big West first team pick and third-team AVCA All-American in 2019, missed 2020 along with the rest of the Big West and sat out 2021 while recovering from a knee injury. She headlines one of the conference’s taller attacks with 3.51 kps. Stockham was an all-conference pick last year and balances the offense with 3.25 kps. Phillips ranks 15th nationally with 1.46 blocks per set and the Mustangs are 15th as a team at 2.74, leading the BWC.

Cal State Northridge (5-7)

Coach: John Price (first season)

Names to know: Lauryn Anderson (MB, 6-1, Jr.), Breanna Mitchell (L/DS, 5-6, Fr.), Carisa Barron (S, 5-11, So.)

UH meetings: Oct. 21 (H), Nov. 26 (A)

Outlook: Prince was named CSUN’s director of women’s volleyball in June and has former UH beach standout Ari Homayun on his coaching staff. The Matadors went 2-1 in the Wildcat Classic, hosted by Arizona, last weekend and claimed three of the four Big West weekly awards. Barron was named setter of the week after posting the conference’s second triple-double of the season with 10 kills, 27 assists and 18 digs in a win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Mitchell added the defensive player and freshman awards after popping up 70 digs over three matches. Nicole Nevarez leads the Matadors with 2.96 kills per set.

UC Santa Barbara (4-6)

Coach: Nicole Lantagne Welch (10th season)

Names to know: Michelle Ohwobete (OH, 5-10, Jr.), Deni Wilson (MB, 6-2, Sr.), Mehana Ma’a (S, 6-1, Sr.)

UH meetings: Oct. 22 (H), Nov. 15 (A)

Outlook: The Gauchos’ 17-3 run in Big West play last season was the program’s best finish since 2004 and their home win over UH was the UCSB’s first since 1993. Ohwobete (2.59 kps) and opposite Tallulah Froley (2.84) provide firepower on the pins and both middles, Wilson and Niableu Correal, a 6-4 sophomore, each have 33 blocks. Ma’a, a Punahou graduate, sat out four of USCB’s first five matches and Gauchos have gone 4-1 since her return. She leads the team with 5.86 assists per set in sharing time with senior Megan Shimoda (4.43).

BIG WEST WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center

UC Davis (6-5, 1-0 BWC) vs. Hawaii (3-5, 0-0)

>> When: Friday, 7 p.m.

>> TV: Spectrum Sports

>> Radio: 1420-AM / 92.7-FM