HONOLULU—The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team (4-5, 1-0 Big West) began defense of its back-to-back Big West titles with a sweep over UC Davis (6-6, 1-1 BWC), 25-22, 25-14, 25-21 on Friday night at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. Junior outside hitter Riley Wagoner led the Rainbow Wahine with her first double-double of the season putting down a match-high 12 kills with 11 digs. It marked her fifth double-digit kill match and the third time she's put up 10+ digs in 2022.
 
UH's middle blockers had a solid night on both sides of the net. Amber Igiede came through with 10 kills and added four blocks, two digs, two service aces and an assist for a stuffed stat line. She now has recorded 10+ kills in eight of UH's nine matches this year. Fellow middle Tiffany Westerberg tallied a season-best .412 hitting percentage with eight kills and one error in 17 attacks. On defense Westerberg was in on a match- and season-high five blocks.
 
Sophomore setter Kate Lang issued a match-high 29 assists as the 'Bows hit .293 for the match with 20 kills coming from the middle attack. Fellow sophomore libero Tayli Ikenaga recorded her seventh overall and third straight double-digit dig match with a match-high 13 digs and was perfect on serve receive in 10 chances.
 
After UH scored the first point of the match, UC Davis scored four-straight, but the 'Bows responded with a four-point run to see-saw into the lead at 5-4. With the Aggies leading 8-6, UH went on a 6-to-1 run for a 12-9 lead that forced UCD to call their first timeout. UC Davis however rallied right back to knot the score at 14-14. In all, the first set had four lead changes and nine ties, the last coming at 19-19. From that point UH went on a 4-to-1 run from which the Aggies could not recover from. UH would take Set 1, 25-22. Wagoner led UH in the frame with six kills while Igiede added three kills and two blocks.
 
UC Davis led 3-1 early in Set 2, but it was all Hawai'i from that point. A 6-to-1 run gave UH a 7-4 lead. UH would later score seven-straight with Lang serving to take command of the set at 14-5. UH led by as many as 11 points at 24-13 and would eventually take Set 2, 25-14 to lead 2-0 in the match. In Set 2, UH hit .458 as a team (15-4-24).
 
The third set was much like the first with 13 ties and five lead changes. UC Davis took a lead at 6-5 and held off the Rainbow Wahine and took a 15-14 lead into the media timeout. Coming out of the time out, UH scored three-straight to leapfrog ahead of the Aggies for their first lead at 17-15 since leading early, 5-3. UCD would fight their way to knot the score at 19-19 as Hawai'i called a timeout. Then with Igiede serving, UH ran off five-straight points and eventually finished the sweep with a 25-21 win in Set 3.
 
The Aggies were led by Demari Webb's eight kills and Lana Radakovic handcuffed UH with three service aces. Olivia Utterback had a team-high nine digs and Josephine Ough led UCD with four blocks.
 
The win was a total team win for Hawai'i as they held UC Davis' offense to a .131 hitting percentage and did not allow an Aggie to record over eight kills. UH out-blocked UCD, 9.0-to-4.0; out dug UCD 48-to-30; out-hit the Aggies .293-to-.131; and had 42 kills to UCD's 32.
 
Hawai'i has a quick turnaround as the they return on Saturday night to take on UC Riverside (2-8, 0-1 Big West) at 7:00 p.m. HT at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.