Senior hitter McKenna Granato put down 12 kills and Hawaii’s middles combined for 18 kills as Hawaii defeated Cal State Northridge 25-23, 25-19, 25-20 in a Big West volleyball match tonight in Northridge, Calif.

It was the ninth straight victory over the Matadors by the Rainbow Wahine (15-7, 11-2), who remain a half-game behind No. 17 Cal Poly (21, 11-1) in the conference standings.

The Mustangs swept UC Santa Barbara 25-18, 25-23, 25-19 tonight.

Junior middle Natasha Burns added 10 kills and senior middle Sarah Liva eight for Hawaii, which concludes its last regular-season road trip at Long Beach State (13-12, 5-7) on Saturday. Burns was in on five of the Wahine’s seven blocks and senior libero Tita Akiu had a match-high 12 digs.

Freshman hitter Nicole Nevarez had 10 kills for CSUN (7-18, 3-10). Matador kill leader Aeryn Owens, ranked 31st in the country in kill average (4.2 kps), had just six kills.

It was the 15th match in double-digit kills for Granato, who is five kills away from 1,000 for her career.