Box Score Box Score

HONOLULU - The No. 7 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine (7-0) swept through the No. 14 California Golden Bears (4-3) 30-20, 34-32 and 30-26 in front of a crowd of 6,840 in the first night of the Waikiki Beach Marriott Invitational Friday.

Alicia Arnott led the way for the Rainbow Wahine, putting away 16 kills with a .389 hitting percentage. Victoria Prince had another steller night, hitting .462 with 14 kills and six blocks, while Susie Boogaard added 14 kills and three blocks. Kanoe Kamana`o had another all-around solid match, although saw her double-double streak come to an end, as she had 54 assists, seven digs, four blocks and two kills.

Hawai`i jumped out to a big 7-2 lead to start game one on the strength of two big blocks by Kamana`o. But the Bears came right back, going on a 5-1 run to cut it to 8-7. UH then reeled off seven of the next nine points, taking a 15-9 lead into the media timeout. The Rainbow Wahine continued to roll out of the break, pushing their edge to 20-11 before closing out Cal 30-20. Hawai`i hit an amazing .459 with 20 kills and three blocks in the first game.

California came out firing to start game two, taking an early 7-4 edge before taking a 15-13 lead into the media timeout. The Bears kept their edge around two to three points until Prince took over, putting away one kill and three blocks in a 6-0 UH run that put the Rainbow Wahine up 26-23. But Cal was able to mount a comeback, as they held off two UH game points to get to a 30-29 game point of their own. The two teams traded points until a California hitting error gave the Rainbow Wahine a 34-32 win in the second game.

UH dominated early in the third game before the Bears fought back to tie the score at 24-24. But Hawai`i came up big in the end, going on a 6-2 run to end the match with a 30-26 game three victory.

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