Rainbow Wahine volleyball team holds off Long Beach State in four sets

Hawaii outside hitter Riley Wagoner accounted for UH’s final four kills and the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team closed out a four-set victory over Long Beach State today in Long Beach, Calif.

Wagoner finished with a match-high 16 kills to help the Rainbow Wahine (7-5, 4-0 Big West) overcome a third-set lull on their way to the 25-20, 25-21, 15-25, 25-19 win at the Walter Pyramid.

Outside hitter Caylen Alexander contributed 13 kills and middle blocker Amber Igiede added 10 and the Wahine won their fifth straight overall and 10th straight in the series with Long Beach State (6-6, 1-3).

The Wahine got a spark off the bench with Kendra Ham, normally a serving and defensive specialist, playing in the front row in the fourth set and providing four kills on seven swings. Senior Mylana Byrd entered the match midway through the fourth set to give UH a taller look at the net and contributed three assists and a block in a 5-1 UH run that gave the Wahine command of the set.

UH sophomore Kate Lang re-entered in the back row and fed Wagoner down the stretch to finish with 32 assists and a team-high 13 digs.

Jaylen Jordan led Long Beach State with 14 kills in 44 attempts. Middle blocker Kameron Bacon was in on six of LBSU’s 10 blocks.

UH hit .233 with 20 attack errors and 13 service errors. Long Beach State hit .229 with 17 hitting errors and 18 errors from the service line.

The teams traded early runs in the first set before Alexander put away three kills in a 5-1 UH run that gave the Wahine an 18-14 lead. UH remained in control and Alexander closed the set with her sixth kill on 10 error-free attacks.

UH struggled from the service line with five errors midway through the second set. But the Wahine were able to sideout opened up a 22-18 cushion when Wagoner hammered an overpass off of Alexander’s serve. The set ended in similar fashion, this time with Ham’s serve leading to an overpass to set up Wagoner’s 10th kill of the match.

LBSU outside hitter Morgan Chacon, held to three kills through two sets, put away three in a five-point Beach run early in the third set. The Beach had back-to-back blocks in a 5-1 surge and the Beach took a 13-5 lead and went on to cruise to the finish to end UH’s streak of sets won at 14.

Neither team could create separation in the fourth set until UH went on a 5-1 run with two kills from Alexander and a block by Byrd and Tiffany Westerberg to take an 18-15 lead. The Wahine inched away and Wagoner’s closing surge finished off the night.

The Rainbow Wahine remain tied with UC Santa Barbara for first place in the conference and return home to face UC Irvine on Friday and UC San Diego on Saturday.