One little difference meant a big difference for Hawaii on Friday night.

The last time the Rainbow Wahine faced UC San Diego, Hawaii was without its “little” in sophomore libero Tayli Ikenaga. The 5-foot-5 Moanalua product was injured during warmups of the Oct. 8 Big West volleyball contest at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center and watched from the bench as the Wahine scratched out a 27-25, 30-28, 23-25, 25-19 victory over the Tritons.

Friday’s rematch in La Jolla, Calif., was a different story, with Ikenaga back sharing the ball-control duties with junior defensive specialist Talia Edmonds. The pair stabilized Hawaii’s passing game, allowing sophomore setter Kate Lang to run an offense that hit a very efficient .363, as the Wahine swept the Tritons 25-14, 25-19, 25-15 at LionTree Arena.

Hawaii (17-6, 14-1) remains a game ahead of UC Santa Barbara in conference play heading into today’s match at UC Irvine (16-9, 9-6). The Gauchos (17-8, 13-2) kept pace with a home win over Cal State Fullerton on Friday, 25-14, 25-21, 25-15.

Junior hitter Riley Wagoner, who had a career-high 25 kills against UCSD last month, finished with a match-high 14 on Friday. The Wahine captain also added 11 digs for her fifth double-double of the season.

Junior middle Amber Igiede put down 12 kills with no errors on 21 swings — seven kills coming in Set 3 — and was in on six of the team’s seven blocks, including three solo. She also had two of the team’s five aces.

“I was a little worried — our serve-receive was not good the last time we played them — but we came out focused,” Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow said during a postmatch telephone call. “Afterward the girls said, ‘Coach, we were focused. We took care of business.’ And they did.

“Obviously you’re not the same team when someone goes down. It helps when you’re playing with two ball-control players back there and Tayli and ‘T’ (Edmonds) stabilized things tonight. I attribute the efficiency to our passing.”

Edmonds finished with 11 digs and Ikenaga 10 as the Wahine finished with a 50-38 margin. The Tritons were led by senior libero Naya Dong, the ‘Iolani product finishing with 13 in her final home match.

For most of the night, Hawaii kept Ava McInnes in check, holding the Big West kill leader to 10. McInnes, who had 22 kills against the Wahine last month, had six and was hitting .000 heading into Set 3.

Both Wagoner and Ikenaga felt the team played a very clean match.

“It was clean volleyball, everyone did their assignment,” Ikenaga said in a telephone interview. “I was excited to play tonight since I was the only person who didn’t experience playing against them the last time.

“It was exciting that we were really together tonight with our mindset. Everyone was in the game and dialed in.”

“There were a lot of good moments tonight,” Wagoner added. “We played a lot better against them tonight, more clean and disciplined.

“Tomorrow it’s keeping the same mindset, taking care of business, staying consistent and not letting the other team control what’s going on.

Hawaii was in control for nearly all of the 80 minutes. The tightest was Set 1, which had six ties, the last at 8. A 3-0 serving run by freshman Caylen Alexander helped break the deadlock and bust it open at 12-9. At 15-10, three kills by Igiede and Kendra Ham’s 17th ace of the season helped push it to 20-10.

The Wahine led Set 2 after winning a challenge that overturned the initial call there was no touch on Ham’s attack. The reversal put Hawaii ahead for good at 4-3, with leads expanding to 20-11 and 21-13.

Set 3 was never in doubt, with Igiede taking control. She had five kills, was in on two blocks and had an assist on a kill by Alexander for a 12-3 lead.

Ah Mow would like to see more of the same today against UCI.

“We have a tendency to let off the pedal when we go back-to-back,” Ah Mow said before the team drove the 70 miles to Irvine after Friday’s match. “We are slowly getting better and we’re a lot more dialed in.

“The challenge is to repeat what we did tonight.”