It all started with the toss.
After Hawaii’s split on the road two weeks ago, Brooke Van Sickle entered the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team’s latest homestand aiming to take a more aggressive approach from behind the service line.
“This past weekend I wanted to toss the ball in front of me for once and try to hit it a little bit harder and see what happens,” Van Sickle said. “I guess it worked pretty well.”
That’s putting it mildly.
Van Sickle opened last Friday’s sweep of UC Davis with a four-point service run, which would just be the start of a tone-setting weekend for the senior outside hitter.
She fired her first ace of the night in the five-point run later in the first set and held serve for 10 consecutive points in the second. Van Sickle started the run with four aces in her first seven serves to help power the Wahine to a 25-7 win in the set on their way to a sweep of the Aggies.
She finished the night with a season-high five aces and stayed hot from the behind the line on Saturday against UC Riverside and had three of her four aces in the second set of another UH sweep.
“I kept looking back like, ‘girl keep doing what you’re doing.’ That was crazy,” UH setter Kate Lang said. “She always has such a good serve and she had a little oomph in her serve this past weekend.”
As a sophomore at Oregon, Van Sickle fired nine aces against Portland State in 2018, still the second highest single-match total in Ducks history. She transferred to UH for the 2019 season and was third on the team with 20 aces in 24 matches.
Van Sickle’s surge last week widened her team lead with 26 aces this season. She enters the week third in the Big West with 0.38 aces per set as the Rainbow Wahine (14-6, 11-1 BWC) head back to California to take on Cal State Fullerton (9-10, 6-6) on Friday and Long Beach State (9-14, 3-9) on Saturday.
Van Sickle’s production with her serve arose out of UH’s first loss of the Big West season when UC Santa Barbara had little trouble with the ’Bows’ offerings in their meeting on Oct. 22 at the Thunderdome. The Gauchos were able to sideout on 77% on UH’s serves in a 25-16, 25-16, 25-23 sweep.
UH’s serving saw an uptick the following night with five aces from freshman Martyna Leoniak in a four-set win at Cal State Northridge.
“Coming back from the Santa Barbara/CSUN trip we talked a lot about how serve-receive and serving wins games,” Van Sickle said. “Against Santa Barbara, I don’t think we served really well at all. So coming back we definitely worked on serving a lot. We’d come in early and people would get their reps.”
Van Sickle entered last week with 17 aces, with a high of four against Marquette in UH’s second match of the season, but had gone five matches without scoring from the service line. She used last week’s practices to adjust the location of her toss, allowing the ball to lead her into the court as she made her approach.
“At first I think I was tossing it more behind me, so I was hitting more under it,” she said. “It’s harder to get that float and drive on it if you’re tossing it behind you. So I focused more on tossing it more in front at a good level.”
As a team, UH held UC Davis and UC Riverside to a combined 46% on sideout opportunities while the Wahine converted on 65% of their chances.
“Definitely came out with harder serves this past weekend than the Santa Barbara and CSUN games,” UH coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “Whoever wins the serve-pass game, it’s a little easier game for them.”
Along with providing a spark with her serve, Van Sickle continued to power the Wahine in the front row in putting away 26 kills on .442 hitting last weekend. The combination raised her scoring average to a conference-leading 4.65 points per set.
“Brooke’s always locked in, always,” Lang said. “She’s such a great leader and she’s a great mentor to me about making sure that I’m always giving my all and giving 100% effort into everything I do on the court and even off the court. She’s such a good role model.”
BIG WEST VOLLEYBALL
At Titan Gym, Fullerton, Calif.
Hawaii (14-6, 11-1 BWC) vs. Cal State Fullerton (9-10, 6-6)
>> When: Friday, 4 p.m.
>> TV: None
>> Radio: 1420-AM / 92.7-FM
>> Online: ESPN+
