HONOLULU—The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team (11-6, 8-1 Big West) quickly powered past CSUN (7-15, 2-8 BW) for its seventh sweep of the season, 25-15, 25-18, 25-18. Junior outside hitter Riley Wagoner supplied the power, recording a career-high .467 hitting percentage. As a result of UH's serve and pass being on point, UH hit a season-best .381 on Friday night at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. The win sets up a showdown between two of the league-leaders, Hawai'i and UC Santa Barbara who enter Saturday's match with identical 8-1 conference records.
 
Wagoner bounced back after a tough game at Cal Poly to lead the Hawai'i's offense. She put down a match-high 16 kills—including eight in the first set alone. She finished with just two errors on 30 attacks while notching her 12th double digit kill match of the season—her 15th with 15 or more kills. She finished with a pair of service aces, five digs and a block.
 
Junior middle blocker Amber Igiede notched her 15th-straight 10+ kill match, putting down 11 kills while hitting a match-high .556 with just one error in 18 swings. It is her 10th game hitting at least .400 for the match. Igiede was in on a match-high three blocks (two solo) to go with six digs and an ace.
 
Sophomore setter Kate Lang orchestrated UH's offensive attack, dishing out 38 assists. As a team, the 'Bows had 49 kills with 12 errors on 97 attempts. She added two kills, four digs and a block in the match.
 
Serving/defensive specialist Kendra Ham posted a match-high 11 digs for her fifth double-digit dig match playing only three rotations in the back row.
 
Sophomore libero made her return to the court after missing the first three games of her career due to an injury suffered right before UH's match vs. UC San Diego on 10/8/22.  She came up with nine digs, three assists and an ace in her return.
 
Junior opposite Braelyn Akana returning to the starting line up and hit .714 with six kills, one error in seven swings.
 
Hawai'i led from wire-to-wire in Set 1. The Rainbow Wahine went on an early 4-to-0 run to take a 7-2 lead. Later a seven-point scoring run with Ham serving allowed UH to double-up the Matadors at 20-10. UH would lead by as many as 12 points at 24-12. CSUN would stave off three set points before a kill by Lang ended the frame at 25-15.
 
Set 2, started with five ties and a couple of lead changes before UH started to pull away. A 5-to-0 run with Igiede serving allowed UH to extend their lead to 18-10. CSUN would close to within four points at 21-17, but the 'Bows would score the final three points to take Set 2, 25-18.
 
Although CSUN scored the first point of Set 3, it was Hawai'i who jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead. From there, the 'Bows slowly pulled away and led by as many as eight points at 22-16. The Rainbow Wahine closed out the match by winning Set 3, 25-18.
 
It was the fasted match of the season, clocking in at one hour and 20 minutes. It is the second time this season that Hawai'i has held its opponent to under 20 points in all three sets. UH stymied CSUN's offense which finished with a .168 hitting percentage while allowing no Matadors to reaching double-digit kills. Taylor Orshoff led CSUN with nine kills and a block. Setters Emily Sparks and Carisa Barron issued 13 assists apiece while Nicole Nevarez had a team-high nine digs.
 
Hawai'i returns to the court for a battle for first place as the 'Bows take on UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022. Saturday's "Pack the House" match is a WHITEOUT and fans are encouraged to wear WHITE UH apparel to the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.