Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow has a lot she can complain about with her team so far this season.
The one thing even she had to admit she was happy about is what matters the most — UH’s win-loss record.
A season-opening homestand in which none of the seven matches went three sets and five went to a fifth ended with Hawaii owning a 6-1 record following a 25-22, 19-25, 25-21, 21-25, 15-12 victory over Texas State on Saturday night to win the Outrigger Invitational.
The fans at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, which numbered 4,951 Saturday, have gotten used to staying late and again went home happy.
Junior Caylen Alexander had a career-high 38 kills with her last coming on match point and her 74th swing as Hawaii, which dropped the fourth set and trailed 10-9 in the fifth, once again made the match as dramatic as it could.
“I can absolutely not complain about the record. The record is fine with me,” Ah Mow said. “We’ve just got to keep playing. They keep fighting.”
The victory took career performances from many players. Sophomore Tali Hakas tied a career high with a match-leading 18 digs.
Senior Tayli Ikenaga posted her first career double-double with 12 digs and a career-high 12 assists.
Setter Kate Lang had 17 digs and finished two assists shy of her career high with 56.
The performance that stood out the most was the play of the tournament’s most outstanding player.
Alexander, who hit a season-low .118 in a win over the Oregon State Beavers on Friday, put down eight kills in her first 13 swings without an error.
Despite being the first UH player to take 70 or more swings in a match since Emily Hartong in 2012, Alexander had enough in the tank to put down four kills in UH’s final six points after it had fallen behind in the fifth set.
“(Friday) she didn’t play a Caylen way, but today she came back,” Ah Mow said.
Hawaii again finished with more hitting errors and a worse hitting percentage and was outblocked 11 to four. Yet it continues to find a way to win, claiming its fourth straight victory since the lone loss to Pepperdine in five sets.
“We won (Friday), but the play wasn’t good, so whatever they gotta do. We going like this,” Ah Mow said motioning her hand up and down.
Stella Adeyemi, Jacyn Bamis and Hakas all finished with three kills as Hawaii hit a season-best .421 in the opening set.
Alexander continued to stay hot with seven more kills in the second set, but the rest of her team did not follow.
Texas State jumped out to an 8-2 lead and led by double figures at 21-11 when UH scored seven of the next eight points.
Back-to-back attack errors led to Texas State calling its second timeout with UH within four at 22-18. MJ McCurdy, who led the Bobcats with 17 kills, and Alexander traded points before Samantha Wunsch put down back-to-back kills to tie the match at a set apiece.
Alexander’s 21st kill gave UH set point in the third and the Bobcats’ fifth hitting error of the set that seemingly ended the set was overturned by a challenge. It only prolonged the set an extra few seconds as Adeyemi hammered her eighth kill to end it.
Texas State hit .444 in the fourth set without an error to force a fifth set.
Hawaii’s first road trip begins Tuesday at UNLV before the Rainbow Wahine travel to the Lone Star State to play at No. 6 Texas, the two-time defending national champion, on Friday and at No. 18 Baylor on Saturday.
HAWAII DEF. TEXAS STATE 25-22,
19-25, 25-21, 21-25, 15-12
BOBCATS (4-4)
S K E ATT PCT D BA PTS
McCurdy 5 17 4 42 .310 8 1 17.5
Wunsch 516 1 31 .484 7 5 19.5
DeFraeye 513 1 26 .462 0 6 17.0
Hanner 510 3 31 .226 0 1 12.5
Walsh 5 4 2 17 .118 5 0 6.0
Torres 5 4 1 12 .250 10 1 6.5
Davis 3 0 0 0 .000 1 0 0.0
Adair 2 0 0 0 .000 3 0 1.0
Bentke 2 0 3 7 -.429 2 0 1.0
Clark 5 0 0 0 .000 9 0 0.0
Emmerling 3 0 1 2 -.500 0 0 0.0
Oretega 5 0 0 0 .000 18 0 0.0
MATCH 5 64 16 168 .286 63 14 81.0
RAINBOW WAHINE (6-1)
S K E ATT PCT D BA PTS
Alexander 53813 74 .338 13 140.5
Bamis 510 3 22 .318 1 1 13.5
Hakas 5 9 8 28 .036 18 1 9.5
Adeyemi 5 8 3 28 .179 3 0 8.0
Sylvester 5 8 1 18 .389 2 2 9.0
Lang 5 5 0 7 .714 17 1 6.5
Leyva 5 0 0 0 .000 7 0 1.0
Matias 2 0 0 0 .000 2 0 0.0
Mane 1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0.0
Ikenaga 5 0 0 0 .000 12 0 1.0
MATCH 5 78 28 177 .282 75 6 89.0
Key — s: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors;
att: attempts; pct: hitting percentage; d:
digs; ba: block assists; pts: points (kills
plus blocks plus aces).
Service aces — Texas State 6 (Hanner 2,
Walsh 2, Torres). Hawaii 7 (Alexander 2,
Bamis 2, Lang, Leyva, Ikenaga). Service
errors — Texas State 4 (McCurdy, Torres,
Adair, Ortega). Hawaii 7 (Lang 3, Leyva 2,
Matias, Bamis). Assists — Texas State 59
(Torres 52, Ortega 3, Walsh 2, McCurdy,
Clark). Hawaii 73 (Lang 56, Ikenaga 12,
Leyva 2, Hakas, Adeyemi, Matias). Block
solos — Texas State 4 (Wunsch, DeFraye,
Torres, Bentke). Hawaii 1 (Bamis). Ball
handling errors — Texas State none. Hawaii none. Reception errors — Texas
State 7 (McCurdy 3, Walsh, Torres, Adair,
Ortega). Hawaii 6 (Alexander 3, Bamis,
Hakas, TEAM). T—2:47. A—6343. Officials— Wayne Lee, Dickson Chun, Mark
Nakashima, Randy Rubonal.
