After watching most of her first eight matches from the sideline, Hawaii freshman Kate Lang didn’t know she’d be on the court to start the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team’s conference opener until minutes prior to first serve.
“Right after warm-up,” Lang said of the moment she was told of her first career start. “I had no idea.”
Even so, when UH coach Robyn Ah Mow called her name when announcing the starting rotation for a match at UC Riverside a week ago today, the assignment didn’t catch the Rainbow Wahine setter off guard.
“Totally better that way,” she said. “I have the same pregame rituals every single time, whether I’m starting or I’m not. I think it’s a great mindset to have.”
Lang’s preparation paid off in a silky transition into the starting rotation. She sparked the Wahine offense to two of its most efficient performances of the season in road sweeps at UC Riverside and UC Davis and was further rewarded on Monday when she was named the Big West Freshman of the Week.
Just as she distributed sets throughout the UH lineup over the weekend, Lang was quick to spread the credit for the individual recognition.
“That’s the thing about getting these awards, it’s all about your team,” Lang said. “I couldn’t have done that if I didn’t get the digs from (libero) Tayli (Ikenaga), the serve-receive passes from all of my pins. … No awards would exist without your teammates.”
Lang and the Rainbow Wahine (5-5, 2-0 Big West) will try to maintain their momentum in their return to SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center to face Long Beach State (7-7, 1-2) on Friday and Cal State Fullerton (4-6, 1-2) on Sunday.
The Wahine used a bye week bridging the nonconference and Big West schedules to hone their defense and passing and UH assistant coach Kaleo Baxter said Lang was inserted into the starting group in part for her production on defense.
Lang responded by delivering 36 assists against UC Riverside and 38 against UC Davis when the Wahine hit a season-high .396. The attempt totals for UH’s five primary attackers ranged from Riley Wagoner’s 28 to Braelyn Akana’s 15. All of them had at least six kills in the sweep of the Aggies, led by Brooke Van Sickle’s 14 and Amber Igiede’s 11.
“Kate did a nice job distributing the ball,” Baxter told reporters on Tuesday. “All of our attackers were seeing some good looks and she was putting them in really good situations at the right times and the set distribution was pretty spot on.”
Lang said spreading out the attack and feeding Igiede and Skyler Williams in the middle were priorities while continually telling herself, “don’t force anything, let the game flow through your sets … just keeping it natural.”
Steady passing from Ikenaga, Wagoner and defensive specialist Janelle Gong in serve-receive allowed Lang to give Igiede and Williams opportunities to put away 37 kills in 70 attempts in the middle. Their production opened seams for the outside hitters and Van Sickle hit .468 over the weekend to earn the Big West Offensive Player of the Week award.
“That’s awesome that Brooke got her award. I’m like, ‘I had a part of that.’ That’s so cool,” Lang said.
Lang and junior Mylana Byrd entered fall camp competing for the starting job and Byrd saw the bulk of the playing time in the nonconference matches, averaging 9.39 assists per set. Lang contributed off the bench primarily as a serving substitute, watching and learning all the while.
“I think I learned so much from seeing Mylana play and even in practice I still learn so much from her,” Lang said. “During practice it’s always Mylana and I working together for both of us to get better.
“It’s competitive, but it’s such a good energy and we’re always pushing each other and when she was starting that pushed me so much, but I know I was still pushing her in a way. So it’s always such a positive energy between the two of us. I really love it.”
BIG WEST VOLLEYBALL
At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
Long Beach State (7-7, 1-2 BWC) vs. Hawaii (5-5, 2-0)
>> When: Friday, 7 p.m.
>> TV: Spectrum OC 16
>> Radio: 1420-AM/92.7-FM
>> Online: ESPN+
