Before boarding a bus for a two-hour ride, Hawaii survived a roller-coaster duel with Cal State Bakersfield.

After a sputtering start to Friday’s Big West match, the Rainbow Wahine dominated the second and third sets only to see the host Roadrunners charge back in the fourth to force UH into a fifth set.

Aces by Talia Edmonds and Kendra Ham helped UH open up a 5-1 lead in the race to 15 and the Rainbow Wahine escaped the Icardo Center with a 23-25, 25-15, 25-14, 18-25, 15-8 win in Bakersfield, Calif.

UH outside hitter Riley Wagoner put away a match-high 19 kills, middle blocker Amber Igiede added 17 kills and eight blocks and Big West-leading UH (10-5, 7-0) won its eighth straight to remain alone atop the conference entering today’s showdown with second-place Cal Poly (9-8, 6-1).

“We knew they were going to come out and battle,” UH coach Robyn Ah Mow said in a phone interview. “(CSUB coach Giovana Melo) always has the team ready to play. We knew we were going to come here and we were going to have to battle to win, and they did.

“That last set was good volleyball on both sides. It was definitely a battle.”

After the extended match with CSUB (5-15, 2-6), the Wahine had the post-match ride to San Luis Obispo to start the process of recharging for today’s 4 p.m. meeting with the Mustangs at the Mott Athletics Center.

“The mind is strong, so we’re so excited to play Cal Poly (today),” said Igiede, who hit .583 and contributed two aces to Friday’s win. “It’s one of my favorite places to play, honestly, so I’m really excited.

“Our team is used to the traveling and that can’t be an excuse at all.”

CSU Bakersfield did all it could to alter the stakes for the UH-Cal Poly match in pushing both teams to five sets this week before falling short.

CSUB outside hitter Haley McCluskey had 19 kills in Tuesday’s loss to Cal Poly and put away 14 more against UH on Friday.

Ava Palm added 10 kills and libero Paige Calvin posted two of her three aces in the fourth set.

The Wahine got the bulk of their offensive production from the middle and left side, with outside hitter Caylen Alexander adding 11 kills and middle blocker Tiffany Westerberg finishing with 10 to complement Igiede and Wagoner.

Setter Kate Lang distributed 52 assists for a UH attack that hit .306 and posted 12 digs in her fifth double-double of the season.

Edmonds made her second straight start at libero with Tayli Ikenaga out with an ankle injury, and led the UH defense with 16 digs. On match point, Edmonds made a one-handed stab that Wagoner then set to Alexander for a back-row kill to end the 2 hour, 31 minute duel.

“She’s ready to go, she’s dialed. We know she can do the job,” Ah Mow said.

CSU Bakersfield took UH to four sets in last year’s meeting on the Icardo Center’s blue court and opened Friday’s match by jumping out to an 11-6 lead with the aid of five UH errors.

After the Roadrunners led for all but one point in the first set, the Wahine bounced back by hitting .393 over the second and third sets while holding CSUB to .074. UH also converted on 24 of 30 sideout opportunities while taking the lead in the match.

The fourth set resembled the first, with Calvin landing an ace in a five-point service run that gave CSUB an 8-3 lead. The Roadrunners kept UH at arm’s length the rest of the way and the Wahine faced a fifth set for the fourth time this season.

UH reclaimed the momentum with the 5-1 opening surge that included the aces from Edmonds and Ham and two kills from Wagoner to end extended rallies.

“We knew we can’t have a slow start because it’s a set to 15. So we had to start early and execute,” Igiede said.

“So to have a long rally and have it come out in our favor is a huge momentum shift.”