Hawaii’s middles took center stage with virtuoso performances Friday night.
Amber Igiede and Tiffany Westerberg combined for 28 kills to power the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team’s most efficient hitting performance of the season in a 25-18, 25-19, 25-13 sweep of UC Irvine at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
Igiede put away a match-high 15 kills on 23 attempts, while Westerberg tied her career high with 12 kills on 15 swings and the Rainbow Wahine hit .471 as a team with 56 total kills against eight errors before a crowd of 4,680.
UH coach Robyn Ah Mow has repeatedly spoken of the importance of respecting opponents “by playing your A game,” and the Wahine delivered in winning their sixth straight.
“I just thought they were dialed,” Ah Mow said of the collective effort. “That was close to an A game.”
With the win, Rainbow Wahine (8-5, 5-0 Big West) improved to 44-1 in the all-time series with UC Irvine (10-6, 3-3) and claimed sole possession of first place in the Big West entering today’s match with UC San Diego (8-9, 1-4). UC Santa Barbara began Friday’s play tied with UH atop the conference standings but dropped back with a four-set loss at Long Beach State earlier in the day.
Rainbow Wahine setter Kate Lang served up three of UH’s five aces and distributed 42 assists while feeding the middles from the start, with Igiede recording the team’s first kill in all three sets.
“Coach Rob always says to establish the middles,” Igiede said. “So I think Kate did a great job of finding me and Tiff and we wouldn’t haven’t been able to get up without the passes.
“By opening the middles it frees up the outsides.”
With Igiede and Westerberg drawing attention on both middle attacks and slides to the right side, outside hitter Riley Wagoner posted 10 kills with one error in a .310 hitting performance and Caylen Alexander and opposite Annika de Goede added seven each.
In her first start of the season, de Goede had four kills in the opening set, three coming in a 6-0 run that gave UH control.
“Anni’s been doing a good job within the last 2 1/2 weeks,” Ah Mow said of the 6-foot-3 sophomore. “I thought she did a great job in practice coming into the game and did a great job working with Kate.”
De Goede started in place of Braelyn Akana, who was not on the UH bench. Ah Mow declined to comment on Akana’s status after the match.
UC Irvine middle Onye Ofoegbu led the Anteaters with 11 kills and outside hitter Joy Umeh added 10. UCI entered the match holding opponents to a league-low .142 hitting percentage, but had no answer for UH’s middle tandem on Friday.
Kennedi Evans, the third member of UH’s group of middle blockers, entered the match late in the third set and added two more kills, including match point.
“I feel like we really support each other and we’re constantly giving each other feedback, which is really crucial to have in a teammate, so I’m really thankful to have Amber,” Westerberg said.
Igiede concurred that “the joy comes from us giving each other feedback. … And when we see it execute, that’s why it’s so fulfilling.”
UC Irvine took a 3-1 lead to open the match, only to see UH go on a 15-3 run to take command of the first set. The surge included a free-ball kill for Kendra Ham, three de Goede kills from the right side and an Alexander ace. Ham added another ace to give UH a 19-9 lead and Igiede closed out the set by bouncing her fourth kill off the Taraflex.
The Wahine broke away with a 9-2 surge midway through the second set. The run included a successful challenge by Ah Mow, giving Alexander a kill off a UCI touch, followed by Lang’s first. A solo block by Wagoner and another from Igiede and de Goede gave UH a 22-16 lead. Igiede turned a dig by Tayli Ikenaga into a bump set to Alexander, who put away her sixth kill to end the set.
Igiede put away four of UH’s first five kills of the third set and the Wahine went on to hit .543 as a team with 20 kills on 35 attempts with one error in the final frame. Westerberg added six kills on seven swings in the set and the Wahine closed the match on an 11-2 run.
