With no more room for error, the Hawaii women’s volleyball team responded to back-to-back losses exactly the way it wanted to.
Junior Paula Guersching put down 12 kills with no errors and hit .545 to lead the Rainbow Wahine to an impressive 25-12, 25-19, 25-16 sweep of UC Irvine on Friday at Crawford Hall in Irvine, Calif.
Freshman Tali Hakas, who earned her first start in nine matches, added 11 kills, seven digs and six blocks, and senior Kendra Ham, who was also reinserted into the starting lineup, finished with seven kills, four digs and two aces.
Hawaii (18-8, 11-4 Big West) had started the same seven for the previous eight matches, but made changes after suffering the first back-to-back home losses in conference play since rejoining the Big West in 2012.
“I think we responded really well. That’s the only way I would want us to respond,” senior middle Amber Igiede said. “Coming from two losses, I think it was great we won tonight with aggression and passion, which was really good.”
The team held a players-only meeting prior to Tuesday’s practice after losing to Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara to fall out of the running for the top seed in the conference tournament.
Igiede, the reigning Big West Player of the Year and who has won three conference championships, became the fourth player in school history to reach 1,000 kills and 500 blocks in her career.
Her block assist in the second set to make it 8-5 in UH’s favor put her in an exclusive club as Angelica Ljungqvist, Suzanne Eagye and Deitre Collins.
“Getting coached by (Ljungqvist) in my first year helped me a lot,” Igiede said. “I’m just so honored to be in that conversation with those top names. You don’t know how much coach Robyn (Ah Mow) screams at me for my blocking. I can be way better with my blocking and I really value that skill in volleyball, so I am honored by that.”
Hawaii got help from league-leading Santa Barbara, which beat Long Beach State in four sets on Friday.
UH is a game back of the the Beach for second place in the conference with three matches to play.
The top two teams in the regular season receive a bye into the semifinals of the conference tournament, Nov. 22-25, in Long Beach, Calif.
Hawaii closes the regular season hosting Long Beach State, which swept UH in the Pyramid in September.
Playoff scenarios were the last thing on the mind of the Rainbow Wahine, who were just looking for a clean match against the Anteaters (9-18, 7-9).
Hawaii hit .383 against the only team to beat the Gauchos in league play this season.
Igiede had eight block assists and two aces in addition to six kills in only 12 swings.
Hawaii’s other middle, Kennedi Evans, had five kills in 10 swings. UH’s offense came mostly from the pin hitters, who were on their game.
“It’s such a light at the end of the tunnel of how great we can be,” Igiede said. “All of the people on the court brought energy and brought passion to the game, and those pins were doing well tonight. It really helps us middles as well.”
Hawaii swept Cal State Fullerton, tonight’s opponent, and UC Irvine at home earlier this season.
This road sweep against the Anteaters, coming off last week’s shocking homestand, meant a little more.
“We really needed to work on being better defensively, and that’s what we worked on in practice coming in,” Igiede said. “Defensively is where we really struggled (last week). I think we obviously want to win so bad, and sometimes when we can’t come up with the result (we want) we don’t have fun. But we have to enjoy ourselves out there if we want to play our best.”
UC Irvine finished the match hitting .116 with 18 errors. Setter Kate Lang led Hawaii with 39 assists and eight digs and added six block assists and an ace.
