Rainbow Wahine volleyball team survives in 5 sets at CSU Bakersfield

Hawaii outside hitter Riley Wagoner put away 19 kills and middle blocker Amber Igiede added 17 kills and eight blocks and the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team survived a five-set duel at CSU Bakersfield in today’s Big West match in Bakersfield, Calif.

After a sputtering start, UH dominated the second and third sets only to see the host Roadrunners battle back to force a fifth. Aces by Talia Edmonds and Kendra Ham helped UH open up a 5-1 lead in the fifth and the Wahine closed out the 23-25, 25-15, 25-14, 18-25, 15-8 win at the Icardo Center in Bakersfield, Calif.

UH (10-5, 7-0 Big West) won its eighth straight and remained alone atop the conference entering Saturday’s showdown with second-place Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.

The Wahine got the bulk of their offensive production from the middle and left side, with outside hitter Caylen Alexander adding 11 kills and middle blocker Tiffany Westerberg finishing with 10 to complement Igiede and Wagoner.

Setter Kate Lang distributed 52 assists for a UH attack that hit .306 and posted 12 digs in her fifth double-double of the season.

CSUB outside hitter Haley McCluskey put away 14 kills and Ava Palm added 10 and the Roadrunners (5-15, 2-6) fell in five sets for the second time this week to the top two teams in the conference. CSUB also pushed Cal Poly to five sets on Tuesday before the Mustangs escaped the Icardo Center with the win.

After a 1-1 tie to start today’s match, CSU Bakersfield led for the remainder of the first set to force UH to play from behind for the first time in the Big West season. Five UH attack errors helped the Roadrunners open up a 17-11 lead. The Rainbow Wahine closed to within a point on three occasions, the third coming at 24-23 after fending off two set points. But Samia Bhakta ended a rally with a cross-court kill to give CSUB the set.

After a relatively quiet first set, Igiede sparked the Wahine early in the second with three kills and two aces. Trailing 8-7, UH outscored CSUB 10-4 to take control of the set and finished it with a six-point run. The Wahine hit. 609 in the set with 14 kills on 23 attempts with no errors.

The Wahine rolled the momentum into the third set, with Igiede scoring with four kills and a block to help UH take control with an 8-2 start.

The fourth set resembled the first, with CSUB taking the lead with a five-point run with libero Paige Calvin on the service line. UH closed to 16-13, but Calvin’s third ace of the match and second of the set highlighted a 5-1 CSUB run and the Roadrunners forced the race to 15 in the fifth.

UH led throughout the fifth set, with Wagoner posting four kills and Igiede adding two kills and a block, and Alexander ended the match with a kill out of the back row.