The Hawaii women’s volleyball team continues to build depth, playing 14 players once again in Saturday’s sweep of UC Riverside.

At the same time, it’s also building a cohesiveness with a starting unit that is playing some of UH’s most efficient offense of the season.

The same starting lineup for the third straight match flirted with hitting .400 as senior middle Amber Igiede put down 18 kills and hit .566 to help the Rainbow Wahine take down the Highlanders 25-19, 25-18, 25-11.

A SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,560 watched Igiede and fellow middle Kennedi Evans combine for 26 kills, with Evans finishing with eight while hitting .400.

The three starting pin hitters also contributed efficient matches, with junior Paula Guersching putting down six kills and hitting .455 while senior Riley Wagoner hit .333 with five kills.

Sophomore Caylen Alexander added five kills, six digs and an ace as Hawaii (15-6, 8-2 Big West) ended up hitting .388 in the match, including .480 in the final set.

“Just sticking to the game plan of setting my middles when I have the opportunity and it goes back to first serving and passing,” said junior setter Kate Lang, who finished with a match-high 32 assists and four digs. “My passers keep putting me in really good situations so I can set who I want and my hitters are doing a really great job at doing their job.”

An appreciative crowd roared at the end of the match as Hawaii closed it out on an 8-0 run with contributions from everyone.

Freshman Stella Adeyemi put down a deep corner shot and Clemson transfer Jacyn Bamis put down a kill that elicited a large roar from the crowd.

The largest cheer might have come when walk-on Colby Lane, who was added to the roster just before the start of the season, aced to set up match point.

“It’s always fun to see everyone get a chance to show what they do every day in practice,” Evans said.

“When Stella had that deep corner shot, the whole bench we all looked at each other and said that’s what she does every day in practice,” Lang added. “It’s great to see our teammates apply what they practice and get their own shot.”

Ten Rainbow Wahine finished with at least one kill as UH has won 15 consecutive sets at home dating back to Sept. 10.

After changing the starting lineup six straight matches, Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow hasn’t needed to in the past three. In the past two matches UH has hit at least .333 and not dropped a set.

“If these guys keep doing what they’re doing then there’s no point in changing,” Ah Mow said. “There’s a point of changing if we get that B side in there and they start cranking away and doing what they’ve got to do too. Then it makes our jobs as coaches harder. There’s a lot of people we can interchange and we’re lucky we’re getting everyone some playing time.”

Hawaii hit .412 in the opening set with 17 kills. UH spotted the Highlanders a 4-1 lead before taking control with Lang spreading 14 assists among five hitters, who each had at least two kills.

A Guersching kill followed by a three-point scoring run with Guersching on the service line allowed Hawaii to separate from UC Riverside at 9-5.

UH led by as many as eight on another Guersching kill to make it 17-9.

UC Riverside closed to five points before UH ended it with Igiede hammering down her sixth kill to close out the first set.

UH’s hitting percentage dropped a bit in the second set as Ah Mow brought in backup setter Jackie Matias and Tali Hakas off the bench to continue to spread around playing time.

Igiede had seven more kills on 10 swings in the set as Hawaii was never really threatened after jumping out to a quick 5-2 lead.

The third set was a blowout, with UH hitting .480.

Ikenaga reached double-digit digs for the fourth straight match and 40th time in her career, leading the way with 14.

Highlanders sophomore setter Makena Tong, a University Lab alumna, had a team-high 14 assists and eight digs as UC Riverside dropped to 4-18 and 3-7 in conference play.