The roars returned on Friday.
With the cap on attendance lifted, Hawaii sophomore Amber Igiede energized an enthusiastic crowd at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center with a career-best performance in the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team’s sweep of UC Irvine.
After being recognized for her defensive efforts earlier in the week, Igiede opened her candidacy for the offensive award with 17 kills in 27 error-free attempts to lead the Wahine to a 25-18, 25-15, 25-21 win before a crowd of 1,924.
“We already had been creating our energy before the crowd came,” Igiede said. “So it was even better and much more rewarding when the crowd was there, so it was really fun.”
With many in the stands watching the Wahine in person for the first time since 2019, UH (17-6, 14-1 Big West) maintained a one-game lead over UC Santa Barbara atop the conference standings and close their homestand on Sunday against UC San Diego.
Igiede was named the Big West Defensive Player of the Week on Monday after posting 12 blocks and 14 digs in UH’s road sweep. Offensively, Igiede has hit .682 with 28 kills in 41 swings without an error over UH’s last two matches.
“Our passing was really good today, so that helped (setter Kate Lang) find me and Skyler (Williams in the middle),” Igeide said. “So obviously it was good team effort. We really worked on passing and worked on how their defense was going to line up.”
Igiede was also in on five of UH’s seven blocks as the Wahine completed a sweep of the season series with UC Irvine (15-11, 8-8).
Williams added eight kills in a .312 hitting performance when Igiede rotated to the back row. Outside hitter Riley Wagoner finished with 11 kills on 29 attempts and Brooke Van Sickle added eight kills in 15 swings.
Van Sickle also popped up a match-high 17 digs, building on UH’s emphasis on floor defense in recent practices.
“An insane amount,” Van Sickle said of the attention placed on defense in the practice gym. “Bodies were hitting the floor at practice for sure.”
Added UH coach Robyn Ah Mow: “We’ve been stressing a lot about defense and Brooke in practice in the last two days, it was just ridiculous. Coach Nick (Castello) was hitting balls and it was fly here, fly there, bodies over here, bodies over there and exactly what she did today.”
The 5-foot-9 Van Sickle also had four blocks — hanging in the air for a one-handed a solo rejection of 6-foot-4 Ellen Veargason in the second set — and had two of UH’s four aces in the opening set. The Wahine entered the week 10th out of 11 Big West teams in aces and tied a season high with six on Friday.
“The last time we played them it was a little shaky,” Van Sickle said of UH’s serve-and-pass performance in a four-set win on Oct. 9 in Irvine. “Every game it’s our goal to win it and I thought we did a good job for sure.”
UC Irvine middle blocker Onye Ofoegbu powered the Anteaters’ attack with 12 kills on .417 hitting. But Joy Umeh, UCI’s kills leader entering the match, managed just six with three errors.
The Anteaters put up four blocks in the opening set, but had none for the remainder of the match as UH hit .340 as a team to UCI’s .167.
UC Irvine took an 18-17 lead in the first set before Wagoner tied it with a kill and went back to the service line. She stayed there for the next seven points, giving the Wahine set point with their fourth ace of the set. Igiede and Van Sickle teamed up on the block to end the set.
The Wahine hit .344 in the second set while holding UCI to .056 and opened up a 23-13 lead when Igiede hammered a kill to end a rally that was extended by two Van Sickle digs.
UC Irvine took its widest lead of the night at 8-4 in the third set. The Wahine caught and passed the Anteaters and took a 17-15 lead on an Igiede solo block. The Anteaters stayed close before Igiede closed out the match with her final three kills. She got a tip off the block to fall, then hammered an overpass off of a serve by Janelle Gong to give UH match point. Lang went back to Igiede and she finished off UH’s sixth straight win.
