A night after a rousing upset on the University of Hawaii’s Lower Campus, the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team managed to avoid a similarly stunning outcome on Sunday.
A little less than 24 hours after the Rainbow Warrior football team celebrated its win No. 18 Fresno State at the Clarence T.C. Ching Complex, the Wahine appeared poised to breeze to the program’s 43rd consecutive win over Cal State Fullerton at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center to cap homecoming weekend.
But after UH controlled the first two sets, the visiting Titans rallied to take the third and rolled the momentum into a blowout in the fourth.
The Wahine regrouped in a team meeting in the tunnel and never trailed in the decisive fifth set and UH senior Brooke Van Sickle’s 21st kill finally finished off a 25-13, 25-20, 25-27, 13-25, 15-10 win to keep the Wahine undefeated in Big West play.
“It’s a win. I know it’s a long night but I’m happy that we came out with a win,” UH coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “Not happy with our play in the later half of the night, but it’s a win and we just gotta get back in the gym and keep going.
“Fullerton played like there was no tomorrow. Hats off to them.”
Van Sickle put away six kills in the fifth set — including the final two points of the match — to set a career high as the Wahine improved to 7-5 overall and 4-0 in the Big West to match UC Santa Barbara atop the conference standings.
Middle blocker Skyler Williams finished with 13 kills and Amber Igiede added 12 kills and nine blocks. Sophomore Braelyn Akana also had a career best with nine kills.
Freshman libero Tayli Ikenaga anchored UH’s defense with a season-high 24 digs and Van Sickle also had a career best with 19 in her fifth double-double of the season. Setter Kate Lang had her second double-double in a row with 51 assists and 17 digs.
But it was Cal State Fullerton’s defense that helped turn the momentum midway through the third set. The Titans (4-7, 1-3) entered the match fourth in the nation in digs per set and frustrated the Wahine in continually popping up attacks and extending points to create scoring opportunities.
“If you keep playing defense, you keep scrambling, you’re going to irritate the other team,” Ah Mow said as Van Sickle and Lang nodded in agreement. “And that’s pretty much what they did and they did it really good.”
UH indeed remained perfect in the all-time series with Cal State Fullerton in winning its 15th consecutive conference match, but had to fend off the Titans in the second straight meeting in Manoa to go the distance.
Cal State Fullerton won the first two sets in its 2019 visit before UH rallied to win in five. This time, UH dominated early and posted eight blocks in the first set and led throughout the second to win their 22nd straight set against Big West opponents.
The Wahine led 16-12 in the third when the match turned on a 6-1 Fullerton run. The Titans led 23-21 when UH went on a 3-0 run and earned a shot at match point with an Akana kill. But a kill by Makena Ala’ilima-Daley kept Fullerton alive and the Titans went on to convert on their second attempt at set point on a block by Haley Carmo.
The Titans hit .364 in the fourth set while UH managed just eight kills with nine errors and regrouped before going to a fifth set for the second time this season.
“We just (said) it’s a new set, so what the other sets didn’t go well, scratch it,” Van Sickle said. “Starting from the beginning let’s go out (with) good energy, let’s focus up and I thought we did a way better job coming out in the fifth.”
Lang opened the set with an ace off the tape and UH moved out to a 10-5 lead after Van Sickle teammed with Igiede on a block then elevated for a kill in the middle.
With UH up 13-6, Cal Sate Fullerton made another surge with a four-point run that included an ace by Julia Crawford. But Van Sickle ended the next two to end the drama.
“We told them you guys go figure it out in the tunnel (after the fourth set),” Ah Mow said. “They came out and played like we know they can.”
Crawford, the sister of Seattle Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford, led Cal State Fullerton with 18 kills and Ala’ilima-Daley added 16.
The Rainbow Wahine head to Southern California this week for matches against two early contenders in UC San Diego (6-9, 3-1) on Friday and UC Irvine (10-4, 3-1) on Saturday.
