HONOLULU – Closing out the Hawai'i Invitational on Saturday at Queen's Beach, the No. 5 University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine beach volleyball team split the day after sweeping Loyola Marymount to move into the championship, where they fell to No. 3 Southern Cal in a tightly-contested match.
 
The 'SandBows' made quick work of LMU in a five-match sweep in the tournament semifinal. UH won all ten sets in convincing fashion over the Lions, holding them under 10 points in four sets to punctuate the well-played dual victory.
 
In the No. 3 spot, Hannah Rooks and Ka'iwi Schucht delivered the most dominating victory, sweeping in scores of 21-8, 21-9.
 
Moving on to the Hawai'i Invitational Championship Match, UH faced off for the third time this year and second time this week versus the defending National Champion Trojans. Across the board a hard-fought dual, the SandBows gave the Trojans all they could handle, with the match ending in a in a thrilling 2-3 defeat.
 
The UH victories came from All-American Katie Spieler and the big Canadian, Emily Maglio, who were fresh off the hard court the prior night in the Rainbow Wahine exhibition win over Iowa State. The pair continues to impress and show signs of improvement. The impressive win at No. 2 over the USC pair of All-Americans Alexa Strange and Sophie Bukovich was powered by the amazing court presence of Spieler and the dominant net play of Maglio in sets of 21-16, 20-22, 15-9.
 
Another bright spot for Hawai'i was the newly-formed pair of Ari Homayun and Hannah Zalopany, who teamed at No. 5 to take down Zoe Nightengale and Jo Cremer. They mixed tough serves with tenacious defense and efficient offense to take down the veteran Trojan pair in three sets, 22-20, 19-21, 15-11. 
 
With the match split at 2-2, Nikki Taylor and Lara Schreiber started a little slow but closed the gap fast against the Trojans' top pair. Taylor's high-velocity serves and Schreiber's defense pushed them to the brink in the second set, but their effort fell just short versus the top-ranked pair in the country, Sarah Hughes and Kelly Claes, who remain unbeaten on the year.
 
The ultra-competitive start to the Sandbows' season continues Sunday at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex sand courts in a televised match against reigning indoor National Champion Nebraska
 
Action will begin at 4:00 p.m. and narrow down to night matches under the lights at 7:00 p.m., witch OC Sports providing television broadcast on Oceanic Time Warner channels 16 [SD] and 1016 [HD] and Hawaiian Telcom channels 89 [SD] and 1089 [HD], with Scott Robbs and Lisa Strand-Ma'a on the call, Ryan Kalei Tsuji providing sideline coverage.
 
No. 5 Hawai'i 5, Loyola Marymount 0
Hawai'i Invitational Semifinal
Queen's Beach • Honolulu, Hawai'i
Saturday, March 19, 2016
1. Emily Maglio/Katie Spieler (UH) def. Avery Bush/Rachelle Suaava (LMU); 21-19, 21-15
2. Lara Schreiber/Nikki Taylor (UH) def. Veronica Nederend/Lindsay Carr (LMU); 21-16, 21-15
3. Ginger Long/Mikayla Tucker (UH) def. Jamie Lea/Erin Williams (LMU); 21-8, 21-9
4. Hannah Rooks/Ka'iwi Schucht (UH) def. Nicky Kevorken/Tatiana Schlange (LMU); 21-11, 21-4
5. Ari Homayun/Hannah Zalopany (UH) def. Kristen Castellanos/Sara Kovac (LMU); 21-9, 21-17
 
No. 3 USC 3, No. 5 Hawai'i 2
Hawai'i Invitational Final
Queen's Beach • Honolulu, Hawai'i
Saturday, March 19, 2016
1. Kelly Claes/Sara Hughes (USC) def. Lara Schreiber/Nikki Taylor (UH); 21-11, 21-19
2. Emily Maglio/Katie Spieler (UH) def. Sophie Bukovec/Alexa Strange (USC); 21-16, 20-22, 15-9
3. Nicolette Martin/Allie Wheeler (USC) def. Hannah Rooks/Ka'iwi Schucht (UH); 21-17, 21-15
4. Jenna Belton/Abril Bustamante (USC) def. Ginger Long/Mikayla Tucker (UH); 21-16, 21-17
5. Ari Homayun/Hannah Zalopany (UH) def. Jo Kremer/Zoe Nightingale (USC); 22-20, 19-21, 15-11