After a 623-day gap between matches, Hawaii enjoyed a quick night’s work in the long-awaited return of Rainbow Wahine volleyball.

The Wahine had their wait extended another 45 minutes due to a five-set duel between Marquette and Texas A&M in the opening match of the Rainbow Wahine Classic on Friday. Once they took the floor in an empty SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, Hawaii unleashed its pent-up energy in a 25-18, 25-12, 25-18 sweep of Fairfield.

“We were anxious,” UH outside hitter Brooke Van Sickle said. “We were sitting there like, ‘OK, can we go now? I kept checking every five minutes.”

After the team’s locker room dance party to pass the time, Van Sickle opened her delayed senior season by putting away a career-high 16 kills, including match point, while hitting .433 in UH’s 86-minute season-opening victory over the Stags.

Van Sickle added 11 digs and two aces and sophomore outside hitter Riley Wagoner also set a career high with 12 kills and added 10 digs in UH’s first home match since Dec. 7, 2019, a sweep of San Diego in the second round of the 2019 NCAA tournament, and first overall since a loss to Nebraska six days later in Madison, Wis.

UH’s return after having the 2020 season canceled by the Big West was played without fans in the arena due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Mylana Byrd, a junior who transferred from Alabama before the 2020 shutdown, got the start at setter and connected early with returning All-Big West middle blockers Amber Igiede and Skyler Williams.

Igiede hammered five kills on six attempts in the first set and finished with eight kills and four blocks, including two solo. Williams finished with four kills on 10 attempts without an error and three blocks.

“The other team’s middles started staying with our middles more and it made it a lot easier for us to hit wherever we wanted around one blocker. So that was really nice,” Wagoner said.

The 6-foot-2 Byrd emerged with the starting role after a competition with freshman Kate Lang in preseason camp and distributed 35 assists and contributed four kills on six attempts while leading an attack that hit a collective .330.

“It was a little shaky watching her warm up,” UH coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “But she went in there and she just took charge. She’s a great listener. She listens to the feedback all three coaches give her. So I think she did great job.”

Ah Mow began her fourth season by inserting two freshmen, outside hitter Martyna Leoniak and libero Tayli Ikenaga, into the starting lineup for the opener.

Ikenaga, a Moanalua graduate, led the Wahine with 12 digs and handled 20 serves without an error.

“Tayli did really well,” Van Sickle said. “Having her next to me passing, she was very calm, took control of the back row. Mylana was on top of everything and everyone was able to focus and say, ‘Let’s go and do our jobs and get a dub.’”

Leoniak weathered a shaky start to finish with four kills and two aces. She had two extended service runs in the second set, highlighting a five-point run with her first ace as UH erased an early deficit to take an 8-5 lead. She served the last six points of a 7-0 Wahine surge to close out the set, which ended with Van Sickle putting away a kill from the back row.

The Wahine broke a 5-5 tie with a 10-3 burst to take control of the third set, with Van Sickle accounting for four kills in that stretch.

Lang made her UH debut late in the set as a serving substitute and gave the Wahine match point with the team’s fifth ace of the night. Fairfield fought off the first before Van Sickle capped the night with a kill.

Fairfield, the preseason favorite in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, hit .107, with junior outside hitter KJ Johnson delivering most of the offense. Johnson finished with 13 kills in 35 swings, while none of the other Stags recorded more than four kills.

Marquette 3, Texas A&M 2

Taylor Wolf put down her team-high 15th kill to finish off the Golden Eagles’ 25-12, 26-28, 25-21, 15-25, 15-13 win over the Aggies. Wolf finished with 24 assists, eight blocks and three aces. Savannah Rennie added 12 kills on .381 hitting, with six blocks and two aces for Marquette.

Lauren Davis led Texas A&M with 15 kills and Morgan Christon added 13.