Rainbow Wahine volleyball team heads into weekend matches in second place

For the first time this season, Hawaii is looking up at the leader in the Big West women’s volleyball standings.

Coming off its first loss of the conference season, the Rainbow Wahine enter this weekend’s homestand a half-game behind UC Santa Barbara and tied with Cal Poly.

The Wahine (10-6, 7-1 Big West) close the first half of the Big West schedule with Friday’s match against Cal State Northridge (7-14, 2-7) and Saturday’s “White Out” showdown with UC Santa Barbara (12-7, 8-1) at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

While the Wahine already approached each match with urgency, the bunched race just reinforces the stakes for the next six weeks.

“Every weekend is championship weekend,” UH setter Kate Lang said. “We have no breathing room, not that we ever thought we did. So we’re ready to go and I’m super pumped for this weekend.”

The two-time defending Big West champion Rainbow Wahine fell into a three-way tie for first place with a four-set loss at Cal Poly last Saturday in San Luis Obispo, Calif. UCSB then edged ahead of UH and Cal Poly (10-8, 7-1) with a four-set win at CSUN on Tuesday.

UH has won the last two Big West titles with two conference losses, finishing one game ahead of UCSB last year and Cal Poly in 2019. Cal Poly went 15-1 in 2018 to edge UH, which went 14-2 and came in second.

After having an eight-match winning streak snapped on “Black Out” night at the Mott Athletic Center, the Wahine leaned into their team chemistry to begin the process of moving forward.

“We were in the locker room for a while after the loss on Saturday at Cal Poly and we had talks, and hard talks,” said Lang, who leads the Big West with 11.34 assists per set in conference matches.

“Not everybody wants to have conversations after a loss … but this team is really good at being open about how they felt during the game and how we felt directly after the loss, too.”

A night after surviving a five-set battle at Cal State Bakersfield, the Wahine surrendered late runs in the sets that tipped in Cal Poly’s favor. They pulled out a 33-31 win the second set after erasing six Cal Poly set points.

“You just have to use it as a learning experience and move on,” UH coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “You can’t dwell on the loss. There still a whole half of the season left to play.”

UH libero Tayli Ikenaga didn’t accompany the team on last week’s road trip after suffering an injury prior to a home match against UC San Diego on Oct. 8. The sophomore, who leads UH with 3.43 digs per set, rejoined practice when the team returned from the trip.

Tuesday’s loss to UCSB dropped CSUN into the bottom spot in the standings. The Matadors went to five sets in three consecutive matches, beating UC Davis, and dropped their last two in four.

CSUN middle blocker Lauryn Anderson had 10 kills in 17 error-free attempts on Tuesday and ranks third in the Big West with a .350 hitting percentage. UH middle Amber Igiede leads the conference at .433 and is fourth with a team-high 3.55 kills per set.

Setter Carisa Barron led the Matadors with 14 kills and while hitting .407 and had 15 assists when in the back row. Outside hitter Nicole Nevarez tops the Matadors’ season chart with 227 total kills and 2.73 per set, followed by Taylor Orshoff (2.42 kps).

UCSB outside hitter Michelle Ohwobete and middle blocker Deni Wilson posted double-doubles in Tuesday’s win. Ohwobete put away 16 kills on . 375 hitting and had 13 digs while Wilson controlled the net with 12 kills and 10 blocks. Punahou alumna Mehana Ma’a had 29 assists while sharing time at setter with Megan Shimoda (17 assists).

Wilson leads the Big West with 87 total blocks and 1.30 per set.

The Gauchos handed the Wahine their lone two losses of Big West play last season, but finished a game behind the Wahine.