HONOLULU—The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team (9-5, 6-0 Big West) held off UC San Diego (8-10, 1-5 Big West) in a four-set marathon, 27-25, 30-28, 23-25, 25-19 to remain the lone unbeaten team in the Big West. Hawai'i's Riley Wagoner led the Rainbow Wahine offense with a career-high 25 kills, while Talia Edmonds posted a career-high 28 digs after an unexpected start at libero for the first time as a Rainbow Wahine. The match easily could have gone in favor of the scrappy Tritons, but the never-say-die Hawai'i squad rally to edge out UCSD in the first two and pulled away late in the fourth for the win on Saturday night at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
 
It marked Wagoner's third career 20+ kill match and second this season. Her 25 kills was the most since former Rainbow Wahine standout Emily Maglio recorded 27 kills at Cal Poly on Oct. 27, 2017. Wagoner hit .314 for the match with nine errors on a career-high 51 swings. It was Wagoner's 10^th overall and eighth-straight double-digit kill match of the year.
 
Edmonds had a career night posting her career-high in digs, with a career-high six assists and her first two service aces of the season—including the walkoff ace that ended the match. Edmonds was called into action as the starting libero just minutes before team introductions as usual starting libero Tayli Ikenaga went down with an injury at the end of warmups which snapped her 154-straight sets played missing her first start of Ikenaga's Rainbow Wahine career. Edmonds stepped into the role without missing a beat, posting the most digs since Tita Akiu had 34 against Baylor in the NCAA First Round match in 2018.
 
Caylen Alexander, who played all the way around the rotation as a result of Ikenaga's injury, posted her third double-double of the season with 16 kills and a career-high 14 digs. Her service ace in the fourth set raised her season total to a team-best 19 overall.
 
Igiede recorded her 700^th career kill in the win adding 15 kills while hitting .393 (15-4-28). She also was in on two blocks and a service ace, an assist and four digs. Setter Kate Lang issued 53 assists—two off her season-high of 55, with six digs, a pair of kills and a service ace.
 
Alexander, Igiede and Wagoner have now had 10+ kills together in four of the last five matches.
 
The first set was a see-saw affair with 11 ties and five lead changes. A five-point scoring run gave the Rainbow Wahine an early 5-3 lead, but the Tritans went on a 5-to-1 run of their own to retake the lead at 10-9. Hawai'I rally back to knot the score at 18-18 on a four-point run with Wagoner serving. UH was able to leapfrog into the lead at 22-21 to force a Triton timeout. UCSD would see-saw back into the lead, going up 24-22, but Hawai'i staved off three set points. UH would finish on a 5-to-1 run to steal Set 1, 27-25. Wagoner led UH with six kills in the frame.
 
The Tritons took the lead from the beginning of Set 2 and held it for most of the frame, except for a single point when UH held a 13-12 lead. UCSD was able to hold off UH down the stretch going on a four-point run to take a 23-20 lead. Hawai'i would rally to tie the score for the 10^th time in the set at 23-23. From that point two teams tied five more times as UH withstood three UCSD set points and the Tritons held off a pair of UH set points before the Rainbow Wahine were finally able to get kills from Wagoner and Igiede to end the marathon Set 2, 30-28.
 
Hawai'i was able to get a better start in Set 3, going on an early 4-to-0 run that gave the 'Bows a 9-6 lead. Neither team was able to take more than a three point lead in the match until UH went up 16-12. But it was all for naught as this time it was the Tritons turn to mount a late rally. UCD would score 7-of-9 points to vault into the lead at 19-18. UCSD would close out the set to extend the match taking Set 3, 25-23.
 
The Tritons again jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead to begin Set 4, pushing the Rainbow Wahine into chase mode from the start. UH finally was able to tie the set for the first time at 14-14 on an Igiede kill. But UCSD refused to relinquish the lead until an Igiede service ace gave the Rainbow Wahine its first lead of the frame at 17-16. Hawai'i would end the match on a 7-to-1 run—ending with four-straight with Edmonds serving the walk-off service ace to end the match.
 
The Tritons were lead by Ava McInnes' 22 kills and Emily McDaniel's six blocks.
 
Hawai'i out-hit UC San Diego 69-53 in kills, but UH's 31 hitting errors allowed the Tritons to have the advantage in hitting percentage .253-.235. UH had 66-55 edge in assist, 68-47 advantage in digs, a 66-51 lead in assists, and 7-3 in service aces. UCSD out-blocked the 'Bows 12.0-5.0.
 
The Rainbow Wahine head back on the road to take on CSU Bakersfield on Friday Oct. 14 at 3:00 p.m. HT. and Cal Poly on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 4:00 p.m. HT.