Box Score SEATTLE, Wash. – The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team saw its season come to an end with a five-set loss to Illinois in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night at the University of Washington's Alaska Airlines Arena. Set scores were 25-18, 25-17, 13-25, 24-26, 15-10.
 
The Illini advance to the second round where they will play the winner between host Washington (24-7) and LIU Brooklyn (20-9) while the Rainbow Wahine concludes their season with a 20-8 mark under first-year head coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos.
 
Making its 36^th overall NCAA Tournament appearance, UH saw its 19-match win streak in first round matches come to an end. Hawai'i also suffered its first postseason loss to the Illini in five all-time meetings but not before a valiant comeback effort after starting with an 0-2 deficit.
 
Playing in its ninth five-set match of the season, the Rainbow Wahine could not overcome a 15-4 deficit in blocking. Three of those Illini blocks came in the deciding fifth set including a crucial stretch in which UH's Emily Maglio was stuffed on consecutive plays of a 4-0 run. Illinois led 12-8 and sided-out to victory, closing out the match on a kill by Ali Bastianelli.
 
In the loss, Maglio led UH with 18 kills with four blocks that put her over 400 for her career. Senior libero Savanah Kahakai tallied 14 digs and moved past Elizabeth Ka'aihue into second place on the program's career digs list with 1,417.
 
Junior outside hitter McKenna Granato came up clutch in the pivotal fourth set with eight of her 15 kills in the 26-24 victory including the team's final five points. Granato also posted a career-best 21 digs leading five Rainbow Wahine with double-figure dig totals.
 
Setter Norene Iosia recorded her 16^th double-double with 33 assists and 11 digs. Iosia went over the 2,000 career assist mark, posting ending her sophomore season with 2,026 career assists. She split setting duties with Faith Ma'afala, who notched 29 assists and 14 digs for her first career double-double. Middle hitter Natasha Burns added a career-high 13 kills, hitting .524 and McKenna Ross added a spark off the bench with nine kills and a career-high 13 digs.
 
The Illini (22-10) were led by Jacqueline Quade, who tallied seven of her team-high 15 kills in the first set. Megan Cooney and Beth Prince also reached double-figure kills with 10 kills a piece.
 
UH fell behind 0-2 in the match after convincing wins by the Illini in the first two sets. Illinois used an early 7-0 run in Set 1 and built a 16-8 lead in Set 2 and the Rainbow Wahine never threatened in either game.
 
Hawai'i came out of the locker room in Set 3 and erased an early 4-1 deficit by taking a 7-5 lead following an ace by Gianna Guinasso. After a kill by Quade trimmed UH's lead to 11-9, it was all Rainbow Wahine the rest of the set. UH went on an 11-2 run to build a 22-11 lead and closed out the set by out-scoring the Illini 14-4.  Hawai'i hit .415 in the set and held Illinois to .111.
 
In Set 4, UH jumped out to an early lead and held a 15-11 advantage at the media timeout following an ace by Guinasso. The teams traded side-outs until the Illini tied it at 20 with a 4-0 run. But the Rainbow Wahine answered with back-to-back kills by Ross and Granato. Illinois responded with three straight for a 23-22 lead. Granato's 12^th and 13^th kills put UH back on top at 24-23. An Illini kill tied it at 24 but another Granato kill gave the Wahine set point. The junior finished it off with another blistering kill sending the match to a fifth set.
 
Both teams earned at-large bids into the tournament. UH was sent to Seattle for the NCAA First and Second Rounds for the fourth time in the last eight years and failed to advance out of the sub-regional each time.

If was the final match for six Rainbow Wahine seniors: Clare-Marie Anderson, Kalei Greeley, Gianna Guinasso, Savanah Kahakao, Kendra Koelsch, and Emily Maglio