IRVINE, Calif. >> When Caylen Alexander watched six seniors graduate last season, she immediately understood the task at hand.
Not only was it time for her to step into a leading role for the Hawaii women’s volleyball team, this year’s success was predicated in large part on just how good of a player she could be.
After a long offseason of physical and mental growth, Alexander was rewarded for the work she has put in when she was named the Big West Player of the Year on Tuesday.
As the team traveled from Oahu to California with a four-hour layover on Maui, the conference awards were handed out, with Hawaii winning three of the four major individual awards.
Senior Kate Lang was named the Setter of the Year and senior Tayli Ikenaga earned Libero of the Year honors prior to the start of the Outrigger Big West Women’s Volleyball Championships today.
“Super proud of them and the work that they put in over the course of their time here, and it’s nice to see their hard work being noticed by the other coaches throughout the conference,” Hawaii associate head coach Kaleo Baxter said Tuesday evening.
Alexander is the fourth Rainbow Wahine in the past five seasons to be named the conference’s Player of the Year, and the sixth since UH rejoined the Big West in 2012.
She enters postseason play leading the NCAA Division I with 566 total kills and ranks third nationally with 5.24 kills per set.
Alexander was named the Big West Freshman of the Year two seasons ago and earned second-team all-conference honors as a sophomore.
Lang was also a second-team honoree last year. Their placements served as motivation for both her and Alexander entering this season.
Alexander also leads UH in aces with 29 and is fourth in digs on a Rainbow Wahine team that starts a defensive specialist and a libero, averaging 2.44 per set.
“She had a really, really good spring for us,” Baxter said. “It’s just super nice to see her consistent hard work through the spring and over the summer pay off through the course of this season.”
Lang earned her second Big West Setter of the Year award in three seasons after leading the conference in total assists with 1,195 and assists per set (10.58).
She is only the third setter in UH history to amass 4,000 assists and 1,000 digs in a career.
Ikenaga earned the conference’s top award for a libero for the first time after posting double figures in digs in 25 of 28 matches.
She ranks second in the conference with 454 total digs and in digs per set (4.02) and is fifth on UH’s all-time digs list with 1,320.
“Talk about someone who has just had a great career and then this year, I’m just so proud of her,” Baxter said. “Again, like we get to see her every single day in the gym and so we get to see her hard work, but for the other Big West coaches to acknowledge that by voting her Libero of the Year is just a testament to what she has done.”
Alexander and Lang both made the All-Big West first team, while Ikenaga made the second team. A libero was not chosen for the first team.
Baxter said that is because of the metrics the conference uses in selecting the first team.
Middle blocker Miliana Sylvester, who started all 28 matches and has a team-high 82 blocks, was voted to the Big West All-Freshman team.
Sophomore opposite hitter Tali Hakas and junior middle blocker Jacyn Bamis earned honorable mention all-conference honors.
Cal Poly’s Caroline Walters was named the Big West Coach of the Year after leading her team to a 14-4 mark in conference play and the No. 1 seed in the tournament. UC Santa Barbara outside hitter Eva Travis, who hit .276 with 10 kills, 10 digs and two solo blocks in a sweep of the Rainbow Wahine during the regular season, was named the Big West Freshman of the Year.
Hawaii, the No. 2 seed in the Big West Tournament, will open play Friday in the semifinals against the winner of today’s match between No. 3 seed UC Davis and No. 6 seed UC Irvine, which is hosting the tournament at the Bren Events Center.
The tournament begins today with No. 4 seed Long Beach State playing No. 5 seed UC San Diego at 1 p.m.
