Forced into scramble mode moments before the opening serve, Hawaii relied on its grit to fend off UC San Diego in four sets in Saturday’s Big West match at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

The Rainbow Wahine suffered a loss prior to the match when libero Tayli Ikenaga went to the floor as UH wrapped up warm-ups and had to be helped off the court while the teams lined up for the national anthem.

An altered UH rotation fought off three set points in the first set and three more in the second before winning both. After UCSD finally finished off the third set to extend the match, the Wahine closed the fourth with a 7-1 run to finish off a 27-25, 30-28, 23-25, 25-19 win before a crowd of 4,525.

Junior Talia Edmonds, normally a starter as a defensive specialist, hustled to change into the black libero jersey in place of Ikenaga. The Michigan State transfer anchored the UH defense with 28 digs and served up her first two aces of the season, the second coming on match point in UH’s seventh straight win.

The Rainbow Wahine head back on the road this week and play at CSU Bakersfield (5-13, 2-4) on Friday before taking on second-place Cal Poly (8-8, 5-1) on Saturday in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

A night after hitting a sparkling .471 in a sweep of UC Irvine, the Rainbow Wahine (9-5, 6-0 Big West) overcame 31 attack errors, 12 on UCSD blocks, to remain the lone undefeated team in conference play.

“The girls, from when we started the season, they’re always fighting back,” UH coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “I don’t think there’s any panic of, ‘OK the other team is up,’ because I know what the team can do. Either you’re either going to snap out of it and come out, or we’re going just to lay down. But they never do — they just keep fighting.”

UH outside hitter Riley Wagoner put away 25 kills on 51 attacks — both career highs — posting the program’s highest kill total since Emily Maglio’s 27 against Cal Poly in 2017.

With Edmonds sliding into Ikenaga’s role, freshman outside hitter Caylen Alexander played all six rotations and finished with 16 kills — three coming late in the pressure-packed second set — and a season-high 14 digs. Middle blocker Amber Igiede finished with 15 kills while hitting .393.

Edmonds also had six assists, and her dig total was UH’s highest since Tita Akiu popped up 34 against Baylor in an NCAA Tournament match in 2018.

Ikenaga had started all 43 matches of her UH career, played in each of the previous 154 sets, and leads the Wahine with 161 digs (3.43 per set). Ikenaga returned to the bench early in the first set and watched the match with her foot propped up on a chair with an ice pack around her ankle.

“Obviously Tayli is definitely a big part of the team, (but) things happen and you’ve gotta keep going,” Ah Mow said.

Ava McInnes led UC San Diego (8-10, 1-5) with 22 kills, seven coming in the third set, on 55 swings. Middle Emily McDaniel added nine kills on .429 hitting and was in on six blocks, including three solo. ‘Iolani graduate Naya Dong led the Tritons with 11 digs and had four assists.

UC San Diego had gone to five sets in each of its previous three matches and four of the past five, coming up short each time. They threatened to take another match the distance before UH pulled away late in the fourth.

UCSD built an 18-14 lead in the opening set before Wagoner sparked a 4-0 run and tied the set with an ace. There would be three more ties before UCSD took a 24-22 lead on a block by McDaniel and McInnes.

Wagoner kept UH alive with a kill out of the back row and the Wahine forced deuce on a block by Annika de Goede and Tiffany Westerberg. UH fought off a third set point before Wagoner found the back corner for her sixth kill of the set. De Goede and Igiede then combined on a block of McInnes to give the Wahine the first set.

The drama ramped up even higher in a second set that included 17 ties and seven lead changes. The Wahine again faced three set points and erased two on Alexander kills, with the other on a Westerberg kill off an overpass sandwiched between them.

UCSD survived a set point when Alexander’s serve stuck in the cord, but she then came up with a dig that the Wahine converted into a Wagoner kill. UH setter Kate Lang (53 assists) then connected with Igiede in the middle to end UH’s longest set of the season.

“It definitely just a mindset thing,” Wagoner said of the comebacks. “You have to tell yourself that you’re confident in your skills and you just have to trust that your teammates are going to help you out in the areas that you’re maybe struggling and you just have to take what the game gives you.”

UH opened an 18-14 lead in the third set, but UCSD responded with a 10-3 surge highlighted by five kills from McInnes. UH again survived two set points, but this time the Tritons finished off the set with a kill by Zaria Henderson, who finished with 11.

The Tritons broke out to a 5-1 lead in the fourth set, but UH maintained contact and caught the Tritons at 14-14. A UCSD service error gave UH a 19-18 lead and Alexander followed with an ace, Wagoner put away her final two kills and Igiede hammered two more in the middle to give UH match point. Edmonds then ended the night with her walk-off ace.

“I thought our effort was really good. We just didn’t finish those first two sets when we had easy plays to make and we didn’t,” UCSD coach Ricci Luyties said. “Frustrating to lose those like that, but I’m happy we played as hard as we did and kept competing even when we were down.”