SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif.—The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team (10-6, 7-1 Big West) fell for the first time in conference play, in four on the road at Cal Poly, 22-25, 33-31, 21-25, 25-19. The Hawai'i loss drops them into a three-way tie atop the Big West with Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara at all at 7-1. The loss also snapped UH's season-long eight-match win streak that began with their win over USC on Sept. 10. Hawai'i middle blocker Amber Igiede led UH with her 14^th-straight double-digit kill match and a team-high five blocks on Saturday night at a sold out Mott Athletics Center in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
 
Igiede put down a team-high 16 kills and was in on a team-high five blocks. She also added a service ace and five digs to fill her stat line. Rookie pin-hitter Caylen Alexander came through with 13 kills to record her 10^th 10+ kill of her career. She had eight digs and dealt out her team-leading 20^th ace of the season.
 
In her three starts as libero, Talia Edmonds has racked up her first eight service aces as a Rainbow Wahine—including a career-high five at Cal Poly. Against the Mustangs, she had six digs and four assists
 
The first set saw eight ties and four lead changes. The 'Bows see-sawed back in the into the lead at 13-12 and later held a three-point lead late after an Igiede kill and a block with Kate Lang gave UH a 22-19 lead. But the Mustangs would reel off three-straight point to knot the score at 22-22. A UH point was challenged and overturned as a net violation on UH, so instead of UH leading 23-22, it was the Mustangs with a 23-22 advantage. Cal Poly closed out the set strong, scoring the last six-straight points to capture Set 1, 25-22.
 
The two teams traded early sideouts to start of Set 2 until it was 6-6, the Mustangs then went on a 3-0 run to take a 9-6 lead which they held until UH was able to score five of the next seven points to catch Cal Poly at 11-11. The 'Bows were trailing 11-13, but Hawai'i would score six of the next seven points to take a 17-14 lead, forcing Cal Poly to call a timeout. CP come out tf the TO to score four-straight to overtake Hawai'i at 20-19. Hawai'i would stave off six set points and serve for the set three times before the 'Bows were be able to break through to take Set 2, 33-31. Wagoner led the 'Bows with seven kills as UH hit .390 in the frame.
 
The third set was tight until the very end as UH and CP had a total of 18  ties and nine lead changes. Just like in the first set, UH had a late lead at 21-20. But the Mustangs would score the final five-straight points to win Set 3, 25-21 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
The Mustangs led wire-to-wire in Set 4 as the surging Cal Poly led by as many as eight points at 16-8 after a 5-to-0 scoring run. Hawai'i would rally back an 8-to-1 run to close to within just one point at 17-16. But the Mustang lead was too much to overcome as Cal Poly pulled away down the stretch, 25-19. The Cal Poly win snapped their three-match losing streak to UH. But it UH is now 4-5 against the Mustangs in the last five seasons.
 
Cal Poly led UH in all categories, except in service aces where Hawai'i had a season high 10—with a career-high five dealt by Talia Edmonds alone, to Cal Poly's eight.
 
The Rainbow Wahine return home to face CSUN on Friday, Oct. 21 followed by UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Oct. 22. Both matches are slated to start at 7:00 p.m. at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.