Hawaii volleyball team rallies to knock off UC Santa Barbara
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii’s Norene Iosia, left, and Rika Okino celebrated after Iosia ended the fifth set with a service ace against UC Santa Barbara on Friday at the Stan Sheriff Center. Iosia finished with four aces in the Rainbow Wahine victory.
CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii’s Hanna Hellvig rose for an attack against UC Santa Barbara’s Deni Wilson, left, and Tallulah Froley during Friday’s match at the Stan Sheriff Center.
There are aces and then there are ACES.
Norene Iosia has 125 in her Hawaii volleyball career.
None have been bigger than the latest one for the senior.
Her walk-off bullet on Friday night punctuated the Rainbow Wahine’s nail-biting comeback over UC Santa Barbara, the fourth ace by the senior setter-hitter ending the 25-19, 22-25, 21-25, 25-18, 17-15 marathon after 2 hours and 42 minutes. A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,101 watched as Iosia turned in her 14th double-double of the season and No. 21 Hawaii kept its Big West title hopes alive.
>> Click here to see photos of the match between Hawaii and UC Santa Barbara.
Freshman hitter Hanna Hellvig put down a career-high 19 kills, junior libero Rika Okino had a career-high 25 digs and the Rainbow Wahine (19-3, 9-2) pulled within a half-game of conference leader Cal Poly (16-6, 9-1). The Mustangs, who swept Hawaii on Oct. 11, take on the Wahine at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Reigning conference Player of the Week Lindsey Ruddins finished with a match-high 27 kills for the Gauchos (19-3, 9-2) but had just five in the final two sets. Libero Zoe Fleck had 24 of UCSB’s 86 digs.
It was the sixth consecutive victory for Hawaii, which now holds the tiebreaker on UCSB after winning both matches this season. The Wahine ran their record in five-setters to 6-1, while it was the first loss in five five-setters for the Gauchos.
Friday night’s Set 5 was as tight as could be, with 13 ties and four lead changes. UCSB had the 8-7 lead at the changeover.
Senior McKenna Ross connected on an X play to give Hawaii the first of three match points at 14-13. UCSB held off two but not the last, with Iosia nailing her final serve.
“It was the fight, the fight at the end for us,” Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “After we didn’t win it (when it was 15-14) I was like ‘Dang.’ Then I realized that Norene was our next server and I was like, ‘OK.’ ”
It was more than OK. It was huge.
“At that point, I just wanted to kill it,” said Iosia, who was one kill away from a triple-double. (33 assists, 16 digs, nine kills). “I just wanted to end it.”
Igiede finished with 10 kills and was in on nine of UH’s 10 blocks. Ross also had 10 kills against two of her former high school teammates, sisters Lindsey and Gigi Ruddins.
Hawaii had as many blocks in Set 1 (5) as the Wahine had in the entire match the last time they saw the Gauchos. Two of the stuffs came consecutively as Hawaii pulled away at 22-16.
The Wahine had no answer for Lindsey Ruddins in Set 2. The conference kills leader accounted for seven of the Gauchos’ first eight points, with seven kills and ace.
Every thing went right for Ruddins, including one of her 13 kills in the set a dig-kill on her overpass of a serve by McKenna Ross. Ruddins hit .500 with just one error in tying the match 1-1.
The Gauchos trailed 11-9 in Set 3 but seemingly were energized after their coaching staff was hit with a yellow-card warning. At 14-14, the seventh and last tie, UCSB used two blocks and another kill by Ruddins to pull away for good at 18-14.
In the must-win Set 4 for Hawaii, the Wahine broke the 17-17 deadlock on a 6-0 serving run by Iosia that included her third ace of the night. Ruddins, who had 22 kills though Set 3, had just three in Set 4.
