There are days when nothing goes right. And then there are days such as Monday.
There was no question that junior Morgan Martin and redshirt freshman Pani Napoleon would rebound from Sunday’s 21-13, 21-18 loss to Loyola Marymount, the first defeat for Hawaii’s No. 3 pair in 21 matches.
The question was how well.
The answer came in 38 short minutes. Martin served for the first seven points of Set 1 and the Rainbow Wahine duo rolled 21-3, 21-8 against Washington’s Cat McCoy-Avie Niece at the Ching Complex campus courts. It was the pair’s 21st straight-set win in 22 matches; Sunday’s loss to the Lions’ Sara Kovac-Jessie Prichard ended Martin-Napoleon’s school record of 40 consecutive sets won.
Their new streak was part of Hawaii’s 5-0 sweep of Washington and added to the senior night celebration for SandBows Angel Gaskin, Hi‘ilawe Huddleston, Ari Homayun and Emily Maglio.
“Senior night is always special,” Martin said. “We’re losing good teammates, but more than anything, we’re losing such good friends. Ari and Lawe are such incredible co-captains.”
“Emily’s such a great player, and Angel, who joined us for one season, has been an awesome teammate,” Napoleon said.
Gaskin, who decided to try beach after her fall indoor season was done, was the only senior who didn’t play on Monday. The other three all won their respective flights in straight sets — Maglio with junior Amy Ozee at Flight 1, Homayun with junior Julia Scoles at Flight 2 and Huddleston with freshman Kylin Loker at Flight 5.
Homayun also extended her school record for individual career wins to 113 and Maglio, who is second, won her 110th.
Martin ranks sixth with 82. Monday’s was a dominant as could be.
In Set 1, the Huskies had only two kills in their three points, the other coming on a service error by Martin.
Set 2 was a little closer. After Hawaii led 17-4, Washington earned consecutive points for the first time in the match, closing to 17-7.
Hawaii’s 4-1 closing run included Martin’s stuff of Niece and Napoleon’s match-ending heater.
“It comes down to serving and passing, and we weren’t as sharp as they were,” Martin said of Sunday’s loss in the Queen’s Cup. “They came out really strong and we had a hard time recovering.
“Today was the best way to rebound.”
The Huskies, with a number of indoor players on their roster, dropped to 8-15. Washington will be back in fall as part of Hawaii’s indoor schedule.
The SandBows, who won their sixth straight, are 24-7 heading into Saturday’s inaugural Alumnae Salute, a friendly competition against their former players that starts at 1 p.m. at the Ching Complex. Three-time defending Big West champion Hawaii goes for its fourth title at the conference tournament April 26-27 at Pismo Beach, Calif.
The NCAA tournament is May 3-5 in Gulf Shores, Ala.
While another NCAA appearance is in their collective minds — the SandBows have finished third the past two years, fourth in 2016 — Monday was all about the senior night as only Hawaii does it.
“This is a revered group,” assistant coach Evan Silberstein said of the senior class. “They’ve all brought a lot of great memories and a lot of great accomplishments. We will miss their leadership and success they brought to the program.
“This group has been focused and committed to our goal of a national championship.”
NO. 6 HAWAII 5, WASHINGTON 0
1. Emily Maglio-Amy Ozee (UH) vs. Kristen Gengenbacher-Destiny Julye, 21-18, 21-16
2. Ari Homayun-Juila Scoles (UH) def. Kara Bajema-Shayne McPherson, 21-16, 21-11
3. Morgan Martin-Pani Napoleon (UH) def. Cat McCoy-Avie Niece (UW), 21-3, 21-8
4. Hi’ilawe Huddleston-Kylin Loker (UH) def. Emma Calle-Samantha Drechsel, 21-17, 21-11
5. Paige Dreeuws-Sofia Russo (UH) def. Chloe Newton-Callie Weber, 16-21, 21-11, 15-13
Exhibition: Ashley Stevens-Regan Hurket (UH) def. Kyra Petersen-Anna Visser, 12-21, 22-20, 15-12.
