HONOLULU—The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team (7-5, 4-0 Big West) held off a scrappy Cal State Fullerton team (4-7, 1-3 Big West)  in five sets, 25-13, 25-20, 25-27, 13-25, 15-10 on Sunday night at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Brooke Van Sickle, Skyler Williams and Amber Igiede all recorded double-digit kills while the UH defense recorded 14.0 blocks and a season-high 95 digs to lead the Rainbow Wahine to its fourth-straight win to remain one of two schools unbeaten in the Big West.
 
Van Sickle posted her fifth double-double this season and ninth of her career recording a career-high 21 kills to go with 19 digs. It is the 21st time in her career with double-digit kills and 29th with double-digit digs. It marked the 10th match in UH's 12 matches that she has led the 'Bows in kills this season. She started the match with six kills in the first set and bookended the match by getting six kills in the fifth set. Van Sickle came through in the clutch, putting down UH's last three kills for the win. She had just four errors in 48 attacks for a .354 hitting percentage.
 
Hawai'i's middle blockers combined for 25 kills. Williams tied her career-high with 13 kills to go with four blocks while Igiede had 12 kills and was in on a match-high nine blocks (two solo) and five digs. The two middles led the Manoa Roofing Company to out-block the Titans, 14.0-to-9.0.
 
Freshman setter Kate Lang recorded her second-straight double-double with 51 assists and 17 digs—both career-highs. She combined on two block assists with a service ace to start the fifth set. Although UH hit .180 for the match, Lang and Mylana Byrd, who played briefly in Set 2, evenly distributed the offense with all five starting hitters recording at least nine kills each—including sophomore rightside hitter Braelyn Akana who had a career-high nine kills.
 
Freshman libero Tayli Ikenaga was solid in the back row, coming up with a career-high 24 digs against CSUF. It is the first time that Ikenaga had 20+ digs in a match and seventh time this year that she's had double-digit digs
 
In the first set, Hawai'i jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead with four points coming off four kills by Van Sickle. But the Titans would score three-straight points to close their deficit to two points at 5-3. But with Van Sickle serving, UH went on a 6-to-0 run to extend its lead to 11-3, forcing Fullerton to call its first timeout. Hawai'i made its presence known at the net early and often on defense, racking up 8.0 blocks in the first set alone. Van Sickle led all players in the first frame with six kills while hitting .500.
 
The 'Bows raced out to an early 7-1 lead to start the second set. After the two teams traded sideouts, the Titans closed to within two points on a 6-to-2 run of their own with UH clinging to a 12-10 lead. Hawai'i responded by scoring four straight points to lengthen their lead to 16-10. The Rainbow Wahine would go on to take Set 2, 25-20.
 
Set 3 started as a much closer affair. Cal State Fullerton took their first lead of the match at 1-0, but UH would take the lead but the 'Bows could not gain traction as the Titans remained within three points until UH scored three-straight to go up, 15-10 going into a media timeout. Fullerton fought back and then took the lead at 18-17 on a 6-to-1 run. UH and CSUF would trade leads but the Titans went on a 3-to-0 run to go up by two points at 21-19, making UH call its final timeout. Hawai'i would fight back to take the lead and had set point at 24-23,  but CSUF would eventually go on to tie and then take the set, 27-25. The set win by the Titans snapped UH's 22 set conference win streak dating back to 2019.
 
Fullerton took the momentum into Set 4, sprinting out to a 4-0 lead to start the fourth set and never looked back. The Titans would go on to cruise to take Set 4, 25-13. It was the worse set loss by UH against Cal State Fullerton since rally scoring started.
 
The race to 15 (Set 5) started with Hawai'i inching out to a 7-4 lead and extended its lead to as many as seven at 13-7. The Titans rallied to close to within three points at 13-10. But two straight kills by Van Sickle would end the match, 15-10.
 
It is the second straight time that Cal State Fullerton has taken the match in Honolulu to five sets. In 2019, the Titans won the first two sets before Hawai'i rallied for the reverse sweep. Hawai'i is now 43-0 against Cal State Fullerton.
 
Cal State Fullerton was led by Julia Crawford who had a team-high 18 kills and 16 digs while Nicole Shuhandler had five blocks while Elizabeth Schuster had 44 assists and a match-high 27 digs.
 
The Rainbow Wahine go back on the road for a pair of Big West Conference matches. The 'Bows will take on UC San Diego on Friday, Oct. 8 at 4:00 p.m. HT followed by UC Irvine on Saturday, Oct. 9 at 1:00 p.m. HT.