The emergence of senior Annie Mitchem as a viable threat as a left-side hitter for Hawaii has taken pressure off senior opposite Nikki Taylor as the sole go-to hitter on the outside. But when Mitchem struggled a little Saturday night against UC Davis, Taylor didn’t.
The second-team All-American put down a match-high 16 kills to lead the 14th-ranked Rainbow Wahine to a 25-19, 25-19, 25-16 sweep of the Aggies in Davis, Calif. The victory was the eighth straight for Hawaii (20-5, 13-1 Big West), giving the Wahine their 23rd consecutive 20-win season dating back to the 19-11 campaign of 1993.
“It gets harder every year to win 20, and I think any team that gets it should be proud of their accomplishments,” Hawaii coach Dave Shoji said after career win No. 1,199. “It wasn’t easy for us this year. We had a lot of adversity and had to fight through it.”
The same could be said of the match against UC Davis (13-14, 6-8) at The Pavilion. The Aggies led early in every set, changing up their lineup that hadn’t given the Wahine much of a problem in last month’s meeting in Honolulu, a sweep where UCD hit negative .040.
The biggest difference was Aggies senior Aima Eichie. She finished with 14 kills, 11 more than the last time she faced Hawaii, while hitting .500.
Eichie had little help, however, as the rest of her teammates combined for just 18 kills. The Aggies did outblock the Wahine 5-4, the first time Hawaii was outblocked in 18 matches.
“Davis started out the match playing well, and that was actually good for our team,” Shoji said. “We had to fight and play hard when behind. We hadn’t been in that situation in a while.
“But we steadied out, made some adjustments and it ended up being a good night.”
The Wahine bring back several impressive streaks for their final two home matches next week. Hawaii has won 22 consecutive sets, the last 15 of which where the opponents have been held to under 20 points.
The Aggies threatened in Set 1, closing to 22-19. The Wahine used a 3-0 run to prevent it, getting a kill by Mitchem, an ace by Taylor and a slam-back of a service overpass by junior reserve setter Kendra Koelsch.
In Set 2, Davis again came close to breaking through at 24-19. Taylor ended the threat with her 12th kill of the match and her eighth of Set 2.
“Nikki had one of her better matches of the season,” Shoji said. “She hit angle shots that only she can hit and she bailed us out of a lot of tough situations.
“If there’s a concern it’s that we weren’t 100 percent focused. But that happens on the road. We’ll go back into the practice gym (Monday) and get to work on our getting two more wins when finishing the (regular) season at home.”
Hawaii hosts third-place Cal Poly (17-8, 10-4) on Thursday and fourth-place UC Santa Barbara (17-10, 8-6) on Saturday. Saturday will be senior night for Taylor, Mitchem, setter Tayler Higgins and defensive specialist Katiana Ponce.
Freshman setter Norene Iosia turned in her 10th double-double of the season (33 assists, 12 digs) for Hawaii. Junior libero Savanah Kahakai added 16 digs for the Wahine, who maintained their 11⁄2 game lead over Long Beach State (17-9, 11-2).
Note
No date has been set for the replay of the UC Irvine-Long Beach State match that has created an imbalance in the standings. The Sept. 24 match between the Anteaters and 49ers has been ruled a no contest after the protest by UCI was upheld by the NCAA. The match, originally won by Long Beach State in five, will be restarted from the point of the protest, which was late in Set 2. The protest was a result of misapplication of a player substitution rule against UC Irvine.
