It didn’t take long for Martyna Leoniak to create connections once she arrived in Hawaii this summer.

After making the trip from Poland, the freshman quickly found support from her Rainbow Wahine volleyball teammates in her transition, whether she needed a ride to a store to pick up supplies to set up her dorm room or just a comforting conversation.

“I know I can talk to them if I have any problems,” Leoniak said. “Now I don’t feel that I’m so far away from home.

“I can call our team a family and I feel at home here.”

Along with getting acclimated within the program and in her island surroundings, Leoniak has displayed an enhanced connection on the court over the past two weekends.

She’ll look to build on last Saturday’s breakout performance at Cal State Northridge when the Rainbow Wahine (12-6, 9-1 Big West) return to SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center for conference matches against UC Davis (8-14, 4-7) tonight and UC Riverside (5-16, 1-10) on Saturday.

Leoniak will be among the UH freshmen who will play in front of home fans for the first time today, with 500 spectators allowed into the arena for this week’s matches.

“I’m so excited because I heard Hawaii’s fans are really, really cool,” Leoniak said. “I’m excited and curious about how it’s going to look.”

Leoniak was in the starting lineup for the season’s opening weekend and produced on defense and from the service line.

She was primarily a serving substitute early in the Big West season, but with UH scuffling early in a match against Cal State Bakersfield on Oct. 16, UH coach Robyn Ah Mow summoned the 6-foot-3 Leoniak off the bench to give the Wahine a different look up front. Leoniak helped spark the Wahine with eight kills and nine digs in an eventual sweep of the Roadrunners.

After UH was swept at UC Santa Barbara on Oct. 22 for its first Big West loss of the season, Leoniak returned to the starting lineup for Saturday’s match at Cal State Northridge.

Swinging from the right side, Leoniak hammered 15 kills in 32 attempts with no errors in a .469 hitting performance. She also served up five aces — the last on match point — and contributed 10 digs and four blocks to UH’s defensive effort in a four-set bounce-back win.

“I wasn’t feeling it at the beginning of the match. I was maybe a little bit stressed,” she said. “But during the match I was getting more confidence.”

Ah Mow linked Leoniak’s production on the right side with a sharper match in serve receive.

“What allowed her to be successful too was our passing,” Ah Mow said. “The passing wasn’t there at Santa Barbara, and it got better at CSUN. Since it was better it allowed our offense to open up and Martyna took advantage of that.”

After Leoniak started the season on the right side, fellow freshman Annika de Goede had a promising series against USC before suffering a season-ending injury. Sophomore Braelyn Akana held down the spot from the start of conference play and Leoniak made the most of her shot in the past two weeks.

“I think on our right side we have people who can come in,” Ah Mow said. “It’s just who can stay steady.

“That’s the good thing about the team — other people can come in and pick the team up.”

While Leoniak is feeling at home on and off the court with the Wahine, she remains connected with her family back home despite the distance between Warsaw and Honolulu.

“We have a 12-hour (time) difference,” she said. “So if I’m waking up they’re going to sleep, so I can talk to them every morning and evening.”

BIG WEST VOLLEYBALL

At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center

UC Davis (8-14, 4-7 BWC) vs. Hawaii (12-6, 9-1)

>> When: Today, 7 p.m.

>> TV: Spectrum OC 16

>> Radio: 1420-AM / 92.7-FM