FULLERTON, Calif.—The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team (9-5, 3-0 Big West) rolled to its seventh-straight win and won their first road match of the season with a sweep over Cal State Fullerton, 25-8, 25-9, 25-16. In the win, the Rainbow Wahine set a new program service ace record with 17 in just three rally-scoring sets. In all, eight different Rainbow Wahine recorded at least one ace in the match. Senior middle hitter
Emily Maglio led UH with 14 kills while junior outside hitters
McKenna Granato and
Casey Castillo recorded new career-highs in service aces with six and three respectively at Titan Gym in Fullerton, Calif. on Friday night.
For the third time this season, Maglio did not commit a hitting error and for the second time this season, she hit over .700 in hitting percentage at .778. It marked her fifth straight match with double-digit kills and it was her 10
th double-digit kill match of the season. She also had one block and two digs in UH's first away match of the year.
Granato tied 10 other former Rainbow Wahine who all recorded six service aces in a match for the fourth most by a UH player in program history. The most recent player to tally six aces was Emily Hartong vs. Wichita State in four sets on Aug. 27, 2011. Granato was also second on the team with seven kills to go with seven digs and a block for 13.5 points (kills aces blocks).
Senior libero
Savanah Kahakai posted a match-high 13 digs. It marked the 10
th time this season that she's had 10 digs in a match. She also added two service aces. Junior setter
Norene Iosia dished out a match-high 28 assists with two kills, two digs, an ace and a block to fill her stat line.
The Rainbow Wahine came out clicking on all cylinders, taking the first set, 25-8. It was the most lopsided set win since UH defeating Pepperdine last year, 25-6. Maglio went a perfect 7-for-7 in kills in the first frame. The 'Bows scored in bunches highlighted by a five-point run with Granato serving followed later by Anderson serving eight straight to push the score to 22-7.
Hawai'i kept things rolling in the second set, 25-9 with nine team aces in the second set alone—four coming from Granato. Maglio added four kills while Granato had three kills to push the 'Bows to a 2-0 lead.
In the third set, eight different Rainbow Wahine contributed with at least one kill as UH won, 25-16. Maglio and Williams led the way with three kills apiece in the final frame.
Hawai'i out-hit the Titans, .494-to-.143 with UH committing just two hitting errors with 40 kills in 77 attacks. UH edged Cal State Fullerton in blocking 3.0-to-2.0. It was UH's lowest blocking total of the season. UH also served CSF off the court with a 17-to-1 advantage in service aces. It was the lowest opponent scoring total since UH defeated Louisiana Tech in Ruston, La., 25-9, 25-9, 25-14 on Oct. 14, 2011. All 14 players suited up played in the game.
The previous team service ace single-match record was 16, set in a five-set match against Stanford 11/29/82 in the pre-rally scoring era.
Cal State Fullerton was led by Tyler Fezzey who had seven kills and Cady Francis who tallied eight digs.
No rest for the Rainbow Wahine as they head to the Inland Empire to take on UC Riverside on Saturday, Sept. 30 at 4:00 p.m. HT.
#HawaiiWVB