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It’s hard to ask for a better start in Big West Conference play for the Hawaii women’s volleyball team.
Twelve different players saw the floor Friday night as the Rainbow Wahine made quick work of Cal State Bakersfield with a 25-8, 25-20, 25-19 sweep at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
Amber Igiede led Hawaii (8-4, 1-0) with a match-high 12 kills and UH needed just 90 minutes to give head coach Robyn Ah Mow as close to as stress-free of a match as possible.
“The way you respect teams is you go out and you play your best game,” Ah Mow said. “Hats off to the starting six. We told them to do your job and get in there so we can get other people playing and they did it.”
Caylen Alexander added nine kills and nine digs but it was the UH reserves who contributed in a big way.
Backup setter Jackie Matias closed out the first set serving the final six points and finished with five assists, two digs and an ace.
Junior transfer Paula Guersching had three kills in seven swings and freshman Stella Adeyemi, making her UH debut, put down four kills in five swings, including a diving attempt at a ball she hit just off the floor that went down on the other side for her first career kill that elicited a loud ovation from the crowd of 4,496.
“I didn’t even see it (land), but it was crazy,” Adeyemi said. “I just thought my first career kill would be overhand but it was a cool thing. It just felt really good to be out there.”
Hawaii held the Roadrunners (5-9, 1-1) to a .094 hitting percentage and racked up 45 digs in three sets with Alexander and Talia Edmonds leading the way.
Perhaps knowing it would be a struggle scoring points, Cal State Bakersfield coach Giovana Melo decided to challenge the first point of the match on a down call that was upheld.
Hawaii started the match on a 5-0 run and closed out the set on an eight-point run with Matias serving the final six points.
Matias aced her first serve and assisted on three Hawaii kills before a blocking error ended UH’s most lopsided set of the season.
“I was really just focusing on my toss and getting a good toss and going over the net,” Matias said. “Coming in and getting that first ace off of it really set the stone.”
The Roadrunners kept it closer in the second set and briefly took a 5-4 lead before UH went to work.
Igiede was in on two blocks to put Hawaii back in front and UH led by as many as seven allowing Ah Mow to use her bench again.
Adeyemi’s debut came in the second set and had a first career kill to remember.
Setter Kate Lang went low to dig a ball from just off the court that Kendra Ham somehow kept alive. Adeyemi had to dive to save it over the net and it landed for a kill as the Roadrunners looked in disbelief that the ball ended back on their side of the net for a 23-16 UH lead.
Guersching ended the set with her third kill in seven swings and Adeyemi came in again in the third set and scored three straight UH points on kills.
“In practice, she’s like Amber coming in every day and going every day not taking any play off whatsoever,” Ah Mow said of Adeyemi. “I looked at (assistant coach) Kaleo (Baxter) and said, ‘we’ve got to get Stella in today.’ She’s definitely proved that she could be on the court.”
CSU Bakersfield freshman Nene Hawkins, a Le Jardin alumna, started at setter and finished with a team-high 14 assists and four digs.
Hawaii has won all seven meetings against Cal State Bakersfield but did go five sets against the Roadrunners last year.
UH returns to the court Sunday against Cal State Northridge at 4 p.m. The Matadors are 2-10 after losing to CSU Bakersfield in five to open conference play Tuesday.
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