The Hawaii women’s volleyball team ended a four-match losing streak, rare in program history, but had to do it without their best player.
With junior outside Caylen Alexander watching from the sideline, the Rainbow Wahine earned their first sweep of the season, 25-17, 25-13, 25-15 over Cal State Fullerton on Saturday night.
A SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,014 saw Hawaii (7-5, 1-1 Big West) end its longest losing streak in a single season since 1985 at a much-needed time.
Fresh off a stunning five-set loss to UC Irvine to open conference play on Friday night, the Rainbow Wahine didn’t have any real stressful moments against the Titans (4-8, 0-2) after enduring one of the most frustrating losses of the Robyn Ah Mow era.
“It always sucks when you lose, but when you know that you beat yourself versus the other team coming in here and outplaying you, it’s a little more frustrating,” said UH assistant coach Nick Castello, who filled in for Ah Mow in the postgame press conference. “They knew that (Friday) night was unfortunate, but it was a quick turnaround. They were able to kind of compartmentalize that and put the blinders on for this Fullerton team and take care of business.”
Alexander, who entered the week ranking in the top five in the country in kills, was substituted out of Friday’s match in the fourth set and did not return.
She went through the start of UH’s pregame warmups but seemed to be nursing her right arm and did not participate in hitting drills.
Through Hawaii’s first 11 matches, Alexander had taken 578 swings with 248 kills and was averaging 4.96 kills per set.
She has won the past two Big West Offensive Player of the Week awards and started the week ranking second in the nation in total kills, third in points and third in kills per set.
“At the end of the day, her health comes first and foremost and she’s dealing with some wear and tear stuff,” Castello said. “After warmup, it wasn’t a go. We’re not going to be a staff that forces her to go, and we have other options. It kind of forces us to think outside the box.”
Hawaii made two changes to its starting lineup, with freshmen Adrianna Arquette and Maddie Way earning their first career starts for the Rainbow Wahine, with Arquette playing opposite.
Fifth-year senior setter Kate Lang went to her middles to make up for the offensive production lost with Alexander’s absence.
Miliana Sylvester had six kills in six swings in each of the first two sets and finished with a match-high 14 kills with a .765 hitting percentage for Hawaii, which hit a season-high .381.
Way added eight kills and hit .412 and setter Kate Lang capitalized on Hawaii’s advantage in the middle to finish with a match-high 32 assists and 11 digs.
“I think we just work really hard in practice on our middle connection and following our gameplan and working the middle out,” Sylvester said. “I’m just thankful for Kate for delivering the balls.”
Arquette, who made her season debut last week on the road at UNLV, played in her first home match on Friday and heard her name called in the starting lineup on Saturday.
She scored Hawaii’s final two points on kills and finished with five kills, seven digs, three assists and two digs. She was also in on a block.
“The atmosphere is honestly super amazing just playing with the team out there,” Arquette said. “It means a lot playing in front of my family and friends and also the support system that UH has. Overall it’s just such a cool experience with so many opportunities.”
Way had three kills and was in on two of Hawaii’s three blocks in the first set. Hawaii hit .542 to go up one set to none despite seven service errors.
A Bianca Martinez kill to make it 24-13 was the only reason Hawaii didn’t double up the Titans in the second set.
Hawaii cut down on its service errors to only one in the set and Sylvester made it 12-for-12 on kill attempts on set point to go up 2-0.
Her streak ended on her first attempt in the third set, but Arquette led the way with four kills in eight swings without an error.
Hawaii finished the match with seven blocks and committed only four service errors over the final two sets.
Tali Hakas, who started at outside hitter, had 10 kills and hit .241.
The Rainbow Wahine hit the road for its next two matches next weekend at UC San Diego on Friday and at Long Beach State on Saturday.
