Let there be cake.
Banana with chantilly frosting to be exact.
Hawaii served up 13 aces while serving up a sweet birthday present for first-year head coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos on Friday night. The 42-year-old was serenaded by the Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4,723 after a 25-12, 25-10, 25-12 victory over Northern Arizona that lasted just 80 minutes.
There was her favorite cake, but the better gift? The Rainbow Wahine (5-5) started strong and finished strong, with very few lulls in between.
“It was an awesome present — respect the opponent, get in and get out,” Ah Mow-Santos said. “I’m very happy how we got going from the beginning and I loved how we finished.
“I told the girls whatever we did tonight we need to keep doing.”
It was an AYSO kind of night for Hawaii, which used 14 of the 16 players dressed for the match. There were career highs in aces for sophomore setter Norene Iosia (5) and senior defensive specialist Clare-Marie Anderson (3), a career-high-tying three for senior libero Savanah Kahakai and another milestone for Kahakai as she moved past her fourth All-American in as many matches on Hawaii’s all-time digs list.
Kahakai had seven, giving her 1,148, moving her past Teee Williams; she is 73 shy of passing Kanoe Kamana’o for No. 6. Iosia had a team-high 12 digs to go with 24 assists for her sixth double-double of the season.
Senior middle Emily Maglio led Hawaii with 10 kills and was in on six of the team’s seven blocks. giving her 303 for her career. Junior hitter McKenna Granato added nine kills and freshman middle Sky Williams had eight kills with no errors, hitting .571.
Junior hitter Kaylie Jorgenson led the Lumberjacks (4-6) with nine kills. Junior libero Jordan Anderson had 12 digs.
The teams meet again at 7 tonight, the final nonconference match for both.
Hawaii opens Big West play next Friday with UC Irvine and “we want to continue doing what we did tonight, carry what we did into (today) and then into conference play,” said Kahakai.
“I think we were able to catch a glimpse of what we’re capable of,” Anderson added. “We want to build on that.”
Anderson helped Hawaii build a 9-1 lead in Set 1, serving for eight straight, including two of her aces. Two aces by sophomore Iosia and two consecutive kills by Williams made it 18-6. Granato’s kill gave Hawaii set point and Maglio’s solo stuff of Abby Akin ended it on the Wahine’s third try.
“I wanted to go in and start us off strong,” Anderson said. “I’m the first serving sub and one of our goals was to start strong. We wanted to make it our new regular start.”
Not much changed for the Lumberjacks in Set 2, as Hawaii continued to tee off from the service line. By the time it was 18-5, the Wahine had nine aces to NAU’s 10 kills
Kahakai’s ace, the 10th of the night, expanded the lead to 23-8. Hawaii rotated players, including switching setters, and headed to the locker room up 2-0.
The Wahine went back to their lineup from Set 1 to close it out. Kahakai’s third ace and two kills by Maglio led to a 15-7 margin and it quickly went to 24-11, with Granato ending it on Hawaii’s second match point.
“I feel good about the starting six and them starting strong allows our other players to come in,” Ah Mow-Santos said. “We went back to the lineup in Set 3 because we wanted (the Set 1 starters) to get some rhythm.”
