In the program’s first visit to UC San Diego’s RIMAC Arena, Hawaii was pushed into comeback mode for the first time in the Big West women’s volleyball season.
The Rainbow Wahine dropped the first set in Friday’s match with the Tritons to face their first deficit of the season. But they tied the match with a 9-1 run late in the second set, fought off three set points before winning the pivotal third and pulled away late in the fourth to remain undefeated in conference play.
Hawaii sophomore Riley Wagoner led three Rainbow Wahine players in double figures with a career-high 20 kills in a 22-25, 25-17, 27-25, 25-21 battle with the Tritons in San Diego.
“We really just knew we need to clean up our side of things and play how we know we can play,” Wagoner said in a postmatch phone interview.
After the Tritons held off a UH rally in the first set, UH senior Brooke Van Sickle put away 10 of her 19 kills in the second set. Wagoner accounted for UH’s last five points in the third set as the Wahine rallied from 24-22 and 25-24 deficits to take the lead in the match.
UH middle blocker Amber Igiede had six of her 13 kills in the fourth set and UH took control with a late 5-1 run that included aces by freshman setter Kate Lang and Van Sickle. UCSD fought off two match points before Tiffany Westerberg ended the match with her third kill.
“I just think we really have multiple weapons (and) we just have to find who’s hot at that moment,” Wagoner said.
Van Sickle had 16 digs and Wagoner finished with 15 in double-double performances.
Lang posted her third straight double-double with 58 assists and 13 digs. Tayli Ikenaga led the UH defense with 22 digs and Igiede was in on four of UH’s eight blocks.
UH lost the opening set for the first time since its four-set loss at Utah on Sept. 4, and the comeback pushed UH’s conference winning streak to 16 and kept the Wahine (8-5, 5-0 Big West) tied with UC Santa Barbara atop the Big West standings.
The Wahine made the drive up to Orange County after the match and will have a quick turnaround to face UC Irvine (11-4, 4-1) today at the Bren Events Center.
Friday’s announcement that fans would be allowed to attend UH home events later this month circulated in the locker room prior to the match. But UH coach Robyn Ah Mow quickly reminded the team to remain focused on what would be a stern test from the Tritons.
“It’s not something we’re going to focus on on the road,” Ah Mow said. “I don’t want them to take their eye off of what we have to do here.”
UC San Diego, in its first season as a Big West member, led for most of the first set and took a 22-17 lead on a kill by Trinity Castaneda, who transferred to UCSD after her freshman season at UH in 2018. UH closed within a point with a 5-1 run, but the Tritons closed out the set with a Castaneda kill and a UH error.
Van Sickle took over in the second set in accounting for five straight UH kills early on and hammering four in a decisive 8-0 surge after UCSD tied the set 16-all.
The Tritons moved out to a 22-19 lead in the third when Castaneda put away a kill. Ah Mow called timeout and UH challenged that the Tritons reached over the net on Lang’s set earlier in the rally. After a review, the call was overturned and, instead of facing a four-point deficit, UH trailed 22-20.
“I called a timeout and (assistant coach) Kaleo (Baxter) said, ‘She went over, let’s challenge that,” Ah Mow said. “I said OK, what do was have to lose?”
Still, UCSD earned set point at 24-22 before Wagoner put away back-to-back kills to bring it to deuce. UCSD answered with a kill by middle blocker Emily McDaniel and UH survived again when Wagoner took a swing at an out-of-system set. She scored again when her dig went over the net and fell to the court and ended the set in more traditional fashion swinging from the left side.
“Coach Rob has definitely been giving us some leeway on high balls just to swing hard and be aggressive,” Wagoner said of saving the third set point. “She throws up a lot of out-of-system balls for us in practice just so we can get the feeling of it and get in rhythm with the balls that we’re uncomfortable with.”
The Wahine led 19-18 in the fourth set before a 5-1 run that included two Van Sickle kills along with her ace.
Freshman Sabire Karacaova led UCSD with 17 kills, Ava McInnes added 15 and Castaneda had 11. ‘Iolani graduate Naya Dong finished with 17 digs.
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Big West Volleyball
At Bren Events Center, Irvine, Calif.
Hawaii (8-5, 5-0 BWC) vs. UC Irvine (11-4, 4-1)
>> When: Today, 2 p.m.
>> TV: None
>> Radio: 1420-AM / 92.7-FM
>> Online: ESPN+
