HONOLULU—The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team (21-7, 18-2 Big West) fell in five sets to UC Santa Barbara (21-11, 16-4 BWC) on Senior Night, 25-18, 21-25, 23-25, 25-19, 12-15. Senior Brooke Van Sickle tied her career-high, putting down 21 kills and Riley Wagoner added 18 in the loss on Saturday, Senior Night at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
 
For Van Sickle it marked her third 20+ kill match this season. It was her team-leading 20th double-digit kill match of the season. She hit .273 with six errors on 55 attacks. She finished two digs shy of a double-double with eight digs, two blocks and a service ace.
 
For the seventh time in the last nine matches, Wagoner posted double-digit kills with 18 kills ending one dig shy of a double-double. She had 64 swings, which is the most since McKenna Granato's 68 at UC Riverside (09/30/2017).
 
Freshman setter Kate Lang posted her 11th and second-straight double-double with 46 assists and 13 digs. Freshman libero Tayli Ikenaga had a team-high 19 digs.
 
Amber Igiede, Skyler Williams and Lang all led UH with five blocks apiece, but UCSB out-blocked UH, 16.0-to-13.0 for the match.
 
After powering the 'Bows offense the last few matches, UH's middles struggled. They tallied a combined .044 hitting percentage for the match with 15 kills, 13 errors on 45 attacks between Igiede and Williams.
 
The loss snapped UH's streak of 12-straight Senior Night wins dating back to 2007. It also halted UH's overall win streak at 10, and its home conference win streak at 16. UCSB handed UH its only two losses in the Big West this year.
 
After four ties to start the match, UC Santa Barbara took a 5-4 lead. The 'Bows scored the next two points to see-saw in front, 7-6.  A 5-to-2 run by UH gave them an 11-8 lead. After the media timeout, Hawai'i extended its lead to 18-13. Later, UH went up by six points on kills by Igiede and Wagoner to lead, 21-15. The 'Bows scored three of the last four points to take Set 1, 25-18. Wagoner paced Hawai'i, putting down eight of her kills in the first set alone.
 
The second set started off like the first with the two teams trading sideouts back and forth early. UH was able to get a couple of natural points on a UCSB ball handling error and a solo block by Igieide to go up 5-3. With Janelle Gong serving, UH went on a 4-to-0 run to lead 9-5. With UH leading 13-8, what was originally called a block by UH was reversed on a Gauchos challenge and that swung the momentum to UCSB as they trimmed their deficit to three. The Gauchos would keep fighting and after closing to within one point six different times, the Gauchos vaulted past UH on a six point run that gave them a 23-20 lead. UCSB would take Set 2, 25-21 to even the match at a set apiece. After the call reversal, the Gauchos out-scored the Rainbow Wahine, 17-to-8.
 
Both teams traded leads to start Set 3, but it was UCSB who took an early 10-7 lead. The Gauchos would keep UH off-balance and kept UH at bay the rest of the way to go up 2-1 in sets, winning Set 3. UCSB would lead by as many as five points, 21-16, but UH rallied on a 6-to-1 run to tie the frame at 22-22 on a dig-kill by Ikenaga, causing the Gauchos to call a timeout. Coming out of the timeout however, UCSB reeled off three of the next four points to win Set 3, 25-23.
 
Hawai'i would take an early five point lead to start Set 4, 11-6. The Gauchos would close to within one point three different times. But UH would hold off UCSB's rallies, and end the set on a 6-to-1 run to tie the match 2-2, 25-19.
 
The Gauchos jumped out to a 6-3 lead and extended it to five at 8-3 and UH could not recover. UH tried to rally back, scoring four-straight to trail by one at 8-7, but UCSB would pull away for the five-set win, 15-12.
 
The Gauchos were led by Abrielle Bross' 16 kills and Rowan Ennis' eight total blocks.
 
As the Big West champions, Hawai'i will now await the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday at 3:30 HT on ESPNU.