Box Score

HONOLULU – The seventh-ranked University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team took the first set and used an exciting rally in the third set to carry momentum into a 25-19, 25-27, 30-28, 25-13 victory over No. 25 Santa Clara Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center in the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational.

 

In the second match of the Invitational for UH, the Rainbow Wahine played in front of 6,237 and treated them to extra points in the second and third sets. With the win, the Rainbow Wahine improve to 2-0.

 

UH will face No. 9 UCLA in the final match of the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational Sunday night at 5 p.m. Santa Clara and Western Michigan play at 11 a.m. Sunday morning. UCLA beat Western Michigan 3-0 on Saturday night.

 

Overall, UH was led by Kanani Danielson, who tied a career-high with 22 kills. Danielson hit .359 for the match and had five blocks.

 

Senior Amber Kaufman tied a career-high with 13 kills and had a career-high .765 hitting percentage. Senior Aneli Cubi-Otineru had a double-double with 13 kills and 14 digs, and freshman Brittany Hewitt had a career night, with 10 kills and 11 blocks.

 

In the opening set, the Rainbow Wahine went back-and-forth with the Broncos before running off five straight points to take a 21-16 lead. UH went on to win 25-19. Cubi-Otineru led the way with six kills, hitting .667. Kaufman added four kills and Danielson had three. As a team, the Rainbow Wahine hit .556, with 18 kills.

 

Santa Clara battled back and held on for a 27-25 win in the second set, tying the match 1-1. Danielson had seven kills and Cubi-Otineru added four kills for UH. Mafua had 15 assists in the set and added two kills.

 

UH pulled out a thrilling third set, 30-28, coming from behind several times down the stretch. Danielson had six kills in the set, Hewitt added four kills and Kaufman had two, leading the Rainbow Wahine. UH hit .293 for the set and held Santa Clara to .204 hitting. UH also had two aces to help them pull out the win.

 

The Rainbow Wahine took the momentum from the third set and carried it into an easy victory in the fourth set. Danielson had six kills and Kaufman had five kills in the set. UH hit .522 in the set, its second plus-.500 set of the night.

 

 

The ninth-ranked Bruins took a quick 25-17, 25-14, 25-15 match against the Broncos, improving to 2-0 in the invitational. Western Michigan fell to 0-2 to start the year.

 

Kaitlin Sather led the way for UCLA, recording 10 kills and six digs. Dicey McGraw and Sara Sage each added eight kills and Lainey Gera had 14 digs. Western Michigan was led by Jessica Brown, who had a match-high 11 kills and Michelle Moore added six kills.

 

Western Michigan and Santa Clara face off in the morning match Sunday at 11 a.m.