Rainbow Wahine to tackle tough schedule | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

GEORGE F. LEE / OCT. 2022
University of Hawaii women’s volleyball coach Robyn Ah Mow huddled with Caylen Alexander, left, Tayli Ikenaga and Riley Wagoner during a match last season.

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GEORGE F. LEE / OCT. 2022

University of Hawaii women’s volleyball coach Robyn Ah Mow huddled with Caylen Alexander, left, Tayli Ikenaga and Riley Wagoner during a match last season.

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A high-powered start and a newly established conference tournament highlight the University of Hawaii women’s volleyball team’s schedule this fall.

UH officially unveiled on Tuesday the 29-match regular-season schedule the Rainbow Wahine will face in Robyn Ah Mow’s sixth season (and seventh year overall) as head coach, which opens with the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic in late August.

The Wahine make their 2023 debut on Aug. 25 against Northwestern at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. The Wahine then face San Diego, which reached the Final Four last season, and close the weekend against Oregon, an Elite Eight qualifier last December.

UH hosts USC in a two-match series (Aug. 31 and Sept. 2) for the third straight season before taking on Liberty, Pepperdine and UCLA in the Outrigger Volleyball Challenge set for Sept. 7 to 10.

Liberty won the Atlantic Sun Conference championship last season. Pepperdine, led by Punahou alum and former UH associate coach Scott Wong, ended last season in the Stanford regional along with UH. UCLA returns to Manoa under first-year head coach and former UH men’s standout Alfee Reft, who served as an assistant coach during San Diego’s historic run last season.

The Wahine will make a trip to Texas for the second straight season, this time participating in the Fight in the Fort hosted by TCU in Fort Worth. UH takes on host TCU on Sept. 14 and then faces Western Carolina and Florida State. UH opened last season in the Texas A&M Invitational.

UH enters the season as three-time defending Big West champions and begins conference play with a homestand against Cal State Bakersfield (Sept. 22) and Cal State Northridge (Sept. 24).

The Wahine will face Long Beach State on Nov. 18 on senior night to cap the regular season which leads into the first Big West women’s volleyball tournament.

The tournament is set for Nov. 22 to 25 at Long Beach State’s Walter Pyramid. The top six teams in the conference standings qualify for the inaugural tournament with the top two seeds earning byes into the semifinals. The tournament champion earns the Big West’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, which previously went to the regular-season champion.

The Rainbow Wahine went 22-7 last season and return AVCA third-team All-America middle blocker Amber Igiede, last season’s Big West Player of the Year. All-Big West first team outside hitter Riley Wagoner and setter Kate Lang also return along with outside hitter Caylen Alexander, last season’s BWC Freshman of the Year.