The Hawaii women’s volleyball team salvaged its first road trip in Big West Conference play with a 25-18, 25-16, 25-17 sweep of UC San Diego on Saturday at LionTree Arena in La Jolla, Calif.

Kennedi Evans put down a career-high 13 kills and teamed with fellow senior Amber Igiede to give Hawaii 23 kills from its middle blocker position to remain undefeated in six meetings all-time against the Tritons.

Evans hit .522 and Igiede finished with 10 kills to help Hawaii (10-5, 3-1) bounce back from Friday’s three-set loss to Long Beach State to remain one of six teams in the conference with one less or fewer.

The win was Hawaii’s first true road win of the season after losses to the Beach and TCU that the Wahine feel could — and even should — have been wins.

“We were definitely ready tonight for another opportunity. Definitely frustrated after last night,” Evans said. “We know we’re a better team than we showed and we had to come out and prove it tonight.”

UH hit .388 as a team and had seven aces with five blocks. Junior Paula Guersching, making her first start for the Rainbow Wahine, had seven kills and five aces.

“I was happy. I’ve obviously worked hard for it, so I felt pretty comfortable about (starting),” Guersching said. “It felt pretty good that I got the chance to play yesterday and things kind of were working, so I was excited to play today. The team helped me to get on the court and it was great.”

UCSD (8-8, 0-4) entered the week leading the conference averaging 2.66 blocks per set. The Tritons had three against UH and only one block in the final two sets.

Riley Wagoner hit .375 with seven kills and Kendra Ham added six as all three hitters in the starting lineup had at least six kills.

Junior setter Kate Lang spread out the ball well with a match-high 38 assists, two kills and an ace. Evans and Igiede’s 23 combined kills came on 42 swings.

The bulk of the damage was done in the middle.

“I think Kennedi played amazing and that was great,” Guersching said. “Honestly, our passing was good, our serving went pretty well, but I was most impressed by Kennedi. She was great.”

Neither team led by more than two points in the first set until kills by Igiede and Guersching bookended a 5-0 run for a 15-12 lead.

The Tritons battled back to take a 16-15 lead before UH closed on a 10-2 run, with Evans starting it with back-to-back kills.

“Our passers did a really great job passing and without them, middles can’t hit without a great pass,” Evans said. “Kate was setting some really great balls today and giving us all of the opportunities to run the offense from the middles. Real team effort.”

Hawaii led 9-7 in the second set when Ham put down back-to-back kills, and then Guersching recorded consecutive aces to put Hawaii ahead by six.

The third set was tied at 15-all when Guersching added two more aces during a 4-0 run to help separate for the win.

Guersching’s career high in aces was 13 — in 2021 for Youngstown State vs. Duquesne.

“I would say it kind of just happened,” Guersching said. “Obviously (assistant) coach Nick (Costello) always gives us where we have to hit the serve, so I give him the credit because he did the thinking and I just served it.”

Hawaii returns home for its next two matches against Cal State Fullerton on Friday and UC Irvine on Saturday.