HONOLULU—A night after the biggest win of the season, the University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team (14-7, 10-2 Big West) was swept by UC Santa Barbara (14-9, 6-5 Big West), 28-26, 25-22, 25-21 on Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center. Hawai'i was led by McKenna Ross' nine kills.
 
The loss snapped UH's five match win streak and was UH's first sweep to a conference opponent since 10/10/14 at CSUN. It was the first home conference sweep since falling to New Mexico State when UH was still a member of the WAC on 10/12/08. And the last time a Big West team swept Hawai'i at home was on 10/22/93 against Long Beach State. It was the fourth time this season that UH was swept.
 
Ross also had seven digs and a block in the match. McKenna Granato added eight kills and 10 digs with two blocks. Although Norene Iosia had just one kill for the match, she recorded her 16^th double-double of the season with 12 assists and 11 digs. Natasha Burns had a team-high four blocks and Tita Akiu recorded her 20^th double-digit dig match this season.
 
In the first set, both sides scored in bunches and kept things close with 14 ties and nine lead changes in the frame. UH led 24-20 late. But UCSB rallied and staved off four-straight set points on three UH hitting errors that sandwiched a Gauchos' service ace. After trading sideouts, UCSB scored the last three points to steal Set 1, 28-26.
 
Hawai'i could not recover from the Set 1 loss. Although the 'Bows led early in the second set, they saw their lead evaporate and the Gauchos leapfrog to take a 12-9 lead that forced UH to call a timeout. The score would be tied four more times, the last coming at 18-18. But from there, the Gauchos closed the set on a 7-to-3 run to win Set 2, 25-22.
 
The third set was all Gauchos until the very end. UCSB held a 24-16 lead when UH finally got in gear. UH was able rally surviving four match points with Akiu serving before UCSB's Gigi Ruddins ended the game with a kill at 25-21.
 
UH held the Big West kill leader to just 11 kills and a .128 hitting percentage (11-5-47). Her sister Gigi Ruddins added 10 kills. UCSB libero Emilia Petrachi had a match-high 16 digs and Nicole Omwanghe had a match-high seven blocks. UH was outblocked, 10.0-to-8.0 and was edged out 40-to-38 in kills and .163-to-.118 hitting percentage. The .118 hitting percentage was a season-low for the 'Bows.

Hawai'i's starting line-up was a little different on Saturday night. Missing her first start the last two season was senior outside Casey Castillo. She was not medically cleared to play. It snapped a string of 48-straight matches started for Castillo. Ross started in her place. Also getting her fifth start of the season was Skyler Williams, who earned her first start since Sept. 6 against Idaho.
 
Hawai'i heads off on its final and longest roadtrip of the season. The Rainbow Wahine will take on CSUN on Friday, Nov. 2 and Long Beach State on Nov. 3. Both matches are slated to start at 4:00 p.m. HT. The 'Bows will remain on the road to battle Pepperdine on Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 4:00 p.m. HT before returning to Honolulu.