HONOLULU—The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team (0-2, 0-0 Big West) will take on Coastal Carolina in a pair of matches this Thurs, August 30 and Fri., August 31. Both matches are slated to start at 7:00 p.m. in the Stan Sheriff Center. The Rainbow Wahine are looking to bounce back after falling twice to Kansas State last weekend.

The State of Hawai'i had a stressful few days last week with the threat of Hurricane Lane bearing down on the Islands. Instead of playing in the 31st Annual Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic tournament, the Rainbow Wahine played a closed match against Kansas State on Saturday. UH then faced K-State for the second straight day on Sunday. The Wildcats overwhelmed UH, sweeping the 'Bows twice in nearly identical match scores. KSU defeated Hawai'i in the first match 25-21, 29-27, 25-19 and then knocked off UH again on Sunday, 25-21, 27-25, 25-20.

Outside hitter McKenna Granato recorded a pair of double-doubles to start her senior season. She leads UH with 25 total kills while averaging 4.07 kills per set. She is currently second on the team with 23 digs (3.83 p/set). After two games, fellow senior pin hitter Casey Castillo is second on the team with 19 kills (3.17 p/set).

The biggest change to UH's is offense has been the usage of junior Norene Iosia. The two-time all-Big West setter is seeing more time on the court as an outside hitter when she's in the front row in UH's modified 6-2 offense. With the emergence of Faith Ma'afala at setter late last season, the 'Bows started to experiment with Iosia at opposite.  In UH's last game, Iosia posted a career-high 10 kills with 16 assists for her first double-double of the season. She also contributed with six digs and two blocks against the Wildcats.

Ma'afala got her first career start in UH's second game against Kansas State. She has dished out a team-high 55 assists (9.17 p/set). She, like Granato also notched two double-doubles last week with 30 assists/12 digs in the opener, followed by a 25 assists/10 digs performance in the second game. Ma'afala has posted double-digits in digs in UH's last three matches dating back to last season's NCAA tournament match vs. Illinois in Seattle, Wash..

UH's two losses this past weekend marks the first time UH has ever been swept in their first two home matches of the season. UH was swept twice to start the season on the road in both 2005 (Nebraska and Penn State) and 2001 (Nebraska and Wisconsin). It is also the first time a team has swept UH at home since 1992 when UC Santa Barbara accomplished that feat in Klum Gym. And, the last time Hawai'i lost twice to one team at home was also to UCSB in 1993 when UH lost 0-3 and 2-3 in their final year in Klum Gym.

About Coastal Carolina...
The Chanticleers are the two-time defending Sun Belt Conference tournament champions and they have won four consecutive conference championships thus earning four consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament. Coastal Carolina enters this week with a 1-2 record after defeating Furman last Saturday while falling to Georgia and Illinois State on the road in Athens, Ga.. Anett Nemeth leads the Chanticleers with 55 kills (4.58 p/set) while Kyla Manning has put down 37 kills (3.08 k/set). Nemeth has been a force at the net, notching a team-high 12 total blocks as well. Setter Sara Boothe has posted 109 assists (9.08 a/set) with Sydney Alvis tallying a team-high 41 digs through three matches.

Matches #3-4 Information:
TEAMS: Hawai'i (0-2, 0-0 Big West), Coastal Carolina (1-2, 0-0 Sun Belt)
WHEN: August 30 & 31, 2018 - Both matches to start at 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Stan Sheriff Center (10,300) - Honolulu, HI
PROMOTIONS: Hale Mahana is the match sponsor on Thursday and will award great prizes throughout the match.  Local boy Makua Rothman will be performing the National Anthem and Hawai'i Pono'i.  Hawaiian Airlines is the match sponsor on Friday and will distribute UH Rainbow Wahine Volleyball roster cards and coupons for the "Rise of the Wahine" showing at Gate A along with awarding lucky seat prizes throughout the match.
TICKET PROMOTION: All University of Hawai`i Alumni will receive 50% off select adult tickets (maximum of eight) to the August 30 and August 31 volleyball matches vs. Coastal Carolina.  Tickets are in special sections and supplies are limited. Other restrictions may apply.
Contact the University of Hawai`i Alumni Office to get access to this deal - (808) 956-2586 or contact@uhalumni.org
TELEVISION: Spectrum Sports will televise both of UH's matches this week with Kanoa Leahey handling the play-by-play and Chris McLachlin doing the color commentary. The pregame/post-game show will feature Scott Robbs, Lisa Strand-Ma'a and Ryan Tsuji. Fans in Hawai'i can watch on Spectrum channels 16 and 1016 (HD).
STREAMING VIDEO: UH's matches will be streamed live locally to Spectrum customers only. Streaming video of the matches will be available for mainland fans for all home matches. Go to BigWest.tv for video stream.
RADIO: ESPN 1420 am will air both of UH's matches this week with Tiff Wells handling the play-by-play.
AUDIO WEBCAST: Listen live online at www.espn1420am.com or through the "Sideline Hawaii" app
LIVE STATS: Livestats for all of the tournament matches will be available at HawaiiAthlectics.com
TICKETS: Tickets can be purchased at Stan Sheriff Center Box Office, online at ETicketHawaii.com, or by phone at (808) 944-2697 (BOWS).