SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—The No. 14 University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team (8-4, 1-0 Big West) opened the 2016 Big West season with a sweep at UC Santa Barbara, 25-20, 25-14, 25-19. McKenna Granato led the Rainbow Wahine with 13 kills while hitting a career-high .478 hitting percentage and Nikki Taylor added 11 kills on Friday night at the Thunderdome in Santa Barbara, Calif.
 
Granato had just two errors in 23 swings. She also added seven digs and a block. It is the fourth time this season that she has led UH in kills in a match.
 
Taylor filled her stat line with a match-high five blocks (one solo) to go with four digs and a service ace for a match-high 15.0 points. She has now recorded double-digit kills in 16 consecutive matches—including all nine that she's played in this season.
 
Middle hitter Casey Castillo tallied a career-high 7 kills and tied her career-high hitting .667 with just one error in nine attacks. She also added three blocks in her ninth start of the season.
 
Setter Norene Iosia led a balanced hitting attack and was efficient dishing out 35 assists while recording a team-high eight digs. She also had two service aces and a block.
 
Hawai'i out hit the Gauchos, .382-to-.112 for the match with a 43-to-28 advantage in kills. UH out-blocked UCSB, 7.0-to-4.5. But UCSB had the edge on defense with 35 digs to UH's 30.
 
In the first set, Hawai'i and UCSB were tied at 6-6 early, but with Emily Maglio serving, the 'Bows went on a 6-0 run to end with a 11-6 lead from which the Gauchos could not come back from. But although UH led by as many as six late in set 1 at 22-16, the Gauchos scored three consecutive points to cut their deficit to 22-19, which forced UH to call a timeout. UH, however, scored three of the last four points to win the first set going away, 25-20.
 
The Manoa Roofing Company became active in the second set with four blocks in the second set alone. Hawai'i started to pull away early and by as many as 13 at 24-12, winning the second frame, 25-14 as Granato tooled the block for her eighth kill of the match. The 'Bows hit .407 (14-3-27) in the second set and was outhitting the Gauchos .350-to-.039 through the first two sets.
 
The third set was a much closer affair. The Rainbow Wahine were unable to shake the Gauchos throughout the frame, holding just a one point lead at 18-17. But, Hawai'i would outscore UCSB, 7-3 down the stretch to seal the sweep with a 25-19 win in the third set.
 
UC Santa Barbara was led by Chanel Hoffman who had 10 kills in the match. Sydney Best posted nine digs and Phoebe Grunt had a team-high three blocks for the Gauchos.
 
Hawai'i now travels about two hours northwest on the 154 to take on a tough Cal Poly team (7-4, 0-0 Big West) on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. in the Robert A. Mott Athletics Center in San Luis Obispo.