For large chunks of the season, Hawaii’s success on the court has rested on the right arm of Caylen Alexander.

With their All-America candidate having an off night, the Rainbow Wahine showed Friday they can manage just fine, earning an impressive 25-15, 25-23, 25-21 sweep of Long Beach State in front of a SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 5,778.

Sophomore Tali Hakas set a career high with 19 digs and added four aces, four blocks and 10 kills while hitting .435 to help Hawaii (17-8, 11-4 Big West) sweep the Beach (16-10, 10-6) for the second time this season.

Sophomore Stella Adeyemi added 11 kills while hitting .269 and junior Jacyn Bamis put down seven kills and hit .267 out of the middle for UH, which kept pace with Cal Poly and UC Davis for first place in the conference with three matches remaining.

“It’s nice to see offense coming from a lot of different places and (setter) Kate (Lang) finding the hot hitters at the right time,” UH associate head coach Kaleo Baxter said. “We thought it was a big team win with some good offensive numbers from Stella and a standout performance from Tali.”

Alexander, who entered the week second in the country in total points, total kills and kills per set, was held to a season-low 12 kills, which was still a match high, on 33 swings with nine errors.

Her .091 hitting percentage was her lowest of the season, but unlike her previous two lowest hitting matches of the season in the Big West, Hawaii pulled out the win, recording its sixth sweep of the season.

“It’s a team sport, and again, there are so many aspects of this game you can contribute to and they were getting a lot of block touches on Caylen,” Baxter said. “(Caylen) is a big part of this team, but it’s nice to see other players step up offensively and (Caylen) will be ready to go (tonight).”

Lang had a double-double with 34 assists and 10 digs and Tayli Ikenaga, UH’s other senior, finished with 18 digs.

Hawaii outdug Long Beach State 64-45 and held the Beach to a .109 hitting percentage, thanks in large part to eight blocks and a good amount of block touches.

“Practice. We had a week of block, block, block, run this kind of fast, so that’s what basically the main focus for the week was,” Hakas said.

Hawaii controlled the opening set from the start, jumping out to a 13-5 lead while Long Beach State used both of its timeouts.

Adeyemi put down her first four swings and Hawaii was hitting .900 with nine kills in 10 swings when the Beach called their second timeout.

Hakas came out of the timeout serving three consecutive aces and UH finished the set with a kill from Miliana Sylvester despite Alexander being held to one kill.

“I think throughout the season we’ve really been trying to get all of our players going and trying to find our groove and I think we’re really in our groove right now,” Adeyemi said.

The Rainbow Wahine pulled out a tightly contested second set, scoring the final five points after two Beach points out of a UH timeout made it 23-23.

Alexander’s fourth error, and second in as many swings, pulled the Beach even. Lang went back to her star outside hitter with a quick set cross court that Alexander hammered off a Beach player, the ball up into the air off the scoreboard to make it set point.

Lang served a tough ball that was passed over the net into the waiting hands of Bamis, who simply tapped it down with two hands to put UH ahead 2-0.

Hawaii hit more than 300 points lower than it did in the first set but held on in part by holding the Beach to a .118 clip in the second set and .139 overall after two.

“This team doesn’t give up. They fight and it was one or two plays that kind of turned the momentum,” Baxter said. “It really was the grit of this team and just defensively, our block coverage was superb tonight.”

UH trailed 13-8 in the third set when Alexander ignited a 10-3 run resulting in a LBSU timeout with UH back in front 18-16.

Three straight errors from the Beach got Hawaii back in it and Hakas continued her all-around performance with her fourth block and then two kills to help put UH ahead by two.

Another Hakas kill — her ninth — out of the timeout pushed the lead to three and Alexander served her second ace of what ended up as a 7-0 run to put the set, and the match, away.

“It was a special night and it’s going to be a special one too (tonight),” Hakas said. “Every second with this seniors, every second with this team is special.”

Hawaii will honor Lang and Ikenaga, along with student manager Anita Sanchez, after tonight’s match against UC San Diego starting at 7.