ISLA VISTA, Calif.--The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team (12-5, 5-1 Big West ) embarks on a pivotal, three-match roadtrip against three of the top teams in the Big West. The Rainbow Wahine will start with back-to-back matches against the lone undefeated Big West team, UC Santa Barbara (16-2, 6-0 BW) on Friday, Oct. 13 followed by the team tied with Hawai'i in second place, Cal Poly (11-7, 5-1 BW) on Saturday, Oct. 14. Both matches are slated to start at 4:00 p.m. HT. The 'Bows will conclude their longest roadtrip of the season at UC Davis (9-7, 4-2 BW) who is currently behind UH on Tuesday, Oct. 16.
| HAWAI'I VS. UC SANTA BARBARA |
| Date | Time |
Friday, Oct. 13, 2023 | 4:00 p.m. HT |
| Location |
The Thunderdome (5,000) - Isla Vista, Calif. |
| Live Video Stream |
ESPN+ |
| Radio |
ESPN Honolulu: 1420 AM / 92.7 FM - Tiff Wells (Play-by-play) |
| Live Audio Stream |
espnhonolulu.com | Sideline Hawaii App |
| Live Stats |
ucsbgauchos.com |
| Game Notes |
Hawai'i | UC Santa Barbara |
| Social Media |
|
| HAWAI'I VS. CAL POLY |
| Date | Time |
Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023 | 4:00 p.m. HT |
| Location |
Mott Athletics Center (3,032) - San Luis Obispo, Calif. |
| Live Video Stream |
ESPN+ |
| Radio |
CBS 1500 - 1500 am - Tiff Wells (Play-by-play) |
| Live Audio Stream |
cbssportshawaii.com | Sideline Hawaii App |
| Live Stats |
gopoly.com |
| Game Notes |
Hawai'i | Cal Poly |
| Social Media |
|
HAWAI'I RAINBOW WAHINE (12-5, 5-1 Big West)
Head Coach: Robyn Ah Mow (Seventh Season)
Record at UH: Overall: 120-41 | Big West: 84-10
Overall Record: Same
UC SANTA BARBARA GAUCHOS (16-2, 6-0 Big West)
SERIES RECORD: UH leads 45-11
STREAK: UH won last two
Last season: In 2022, Hawai'i won both matches against the Gauchos. In Honolulu (10/22/2022), the 'Bows downed the Gauchos in four, 25-21, 20-25, 25-18, 25-22.
Riley Wagoner led UH with a double-double (17 kills/13 digs) while
Amber Igiede added 13 kills and four blocks. UH came from behind, down 2-1 in the match to defeat UCSB in five in The Thunderdome (11/25/22). Four Rainbow Wahine hit 10-ofr more kills, led by Igiede who had 18 kills and five blocks and Wagoner recorded her second double-double of the season vs. UCSB, with 18 kills and 17 digs.
Caylen Alexander added 16 kills and Braely Akana had 10 kills.
Kate Lang also had a double-double, issuing 55 assists with 17 digs.
Head Coach: Matt Jones (First Season)
CAL POLY MUSTANGS (11-7, 5-1 Big West)
SERIES RECORD: UH leads 44-9
STREAK: UH won last one
Last season: In 2022, UH split its two-match series against the Mustangs. Cal Poly won in four sets in San Luis Obispo (10/15/2022), Calif., 25-22, 31-33, 25-21, 25-19, but UH won in Honolulu (11/18/2022), 16-25, 25-12, 25-16, 25-23. On the road, UH was led by
Amber Igiede who had 16 kills and five blocks and
Caylen Alexander had 13 kills and eight digs. Hawai'i was unable to stop the CP combo of Maia Dvorack and Tommi Stockham who put down 21 and 17 kills respectively. At home, three Rainbow Wahine buried 10+ kills--Igiede (17), Alexander (16), and
Braelyn Akana (10). Hawai'i rallied from eight points down in the fourth set to close out the win.
Head Coach: Caroline Walters (Fourth Season)
LAST TIME OUT...vs. Cal State Fullerton
• Hawai' swept the Titans, 25-18, 25-10, 25-14 on Friday night. A season-high 14 different UH players saw action in the match.
• All nine hitters and both setters (non-libero/defensive specialists) recorded at least one kill and 12 players had at least one dig in the match.
•
Kennedi Evans and
Caylen Alexander led Hawai'i with seven kills apiece, while
Amber Igiede had six kills and a team-high five blocks.
vs. UC IRVINE
• UH swept the Anteaters, 25-19, 25-23, 25-20 on Saturday. It marked the 'Bows' third-straight sweep.
• Igiede led Hawai'i's offense with 11 kills while setter
Kate Lang notched her seventh double-double of the year with 31 assists and 11 digs.
•
Kendra Ham dealt out a career-high three service aces and popped up 11 digs for her fourth double-digit dig match of the season.
NEWS & NOTES
IGIEDE THE GAME-CHANGER
Senior middle blocker
Amber Igiede's current rankings in NCAA and Big West and leads UH in...
Hitting percentage: .403 (1-BW/27-NCAA)
Points/Set: 4.60 (1-BW/38-NCAA)
Kills/set: 3.67 (2-BW/76-NCAA)
Points: 280.5 (2-BW/49-NCAA)
Total Kills: 224 (4-BW/91-NCAA)
Igiede also leads UH in...
Total Blocks: 71
Block Solos: 16
Block Assists: 55
Blocks/Set: 1.16
Service Aces: 14 (tied with
Riley Wagoner)
• For her career, Igiede is ranked #10 in the NCAA in career total blocks (472) and #11 with 1.25 blocks/set
(Igiede's UH record book standings on page 16)
• UH's middle blocker also has 68 digs and recently recorded her 300th career dig and currently has 324 career digs.
• Igiede has hit over .300 in 14 of UH's 17 matches
• This season, Igiede has put down double-digit kills in 14 of UH's 17 matches
• She is the only Rainbow Wahine to record a kill, dig and a block in every match this year. Dating back to last season, Igiede has had a kill, dig, and block in the last 43-straight matches when she did not have a dig against San Diego on 8/28/22 in College Station, Texas.
• She has seven matches with at least one kill, assist, service ace, dig, and block—including in three of the last four matches.
• Igiede has recorded at least one kill in all 106 career matches - AND - has also been in on at least one block in 105out of 104 career matches.
• Against Western Carolina at the Fight in the Fort tournament in Texas, Igiede put down a season-high 21 kills while hitting .625 in just three sets. In UH's match vs. CSUN, she was uber-efficient, hitting a season-high .722 (13-0-18).
• This past summer, Igiede trained with the nation's elite collegiate players. She was invited to train with the U.S. Women's National Team led by head • Against Southern California on Sept. 2, Igiede became the 21st Rainbow Wahine to record 1,000 career kills. She was the first since McKenna Granato accomplished the feat in 2018. Currently, she is ranked No. 17 in UH history with 1,143 kills. She also is No. 6 in career blocks with 4466.
• Igiede is the only Rainbow Wahine to be named to all three preseason all-tournament teams.
•Igiede is the reigning Big West Player of the Year and has earned all-Big West first team honors three times.
LANG DISHING IT OUT
Junior
Kate Lang currently is ranked No. 22 in the NCAA and leads the conference averaging a career-best 10.52 assists/set. She is 34th in the NCAA and tops in the conference with 642 total assists.
• Last week against UC Irvine, she recorded her seventh double-double of the season with 31 assists and 11 digs.
• Lang earned Big West Setter of the Week a record five-straight times to start this season.
• With Lang at the controls of the UH offense, the 'Bows leads the league in assists per set (12.77) and kills per set (13.69) and UH is ranked No. 2 in team hitting percentage (.232).
HAKAS PLAYING FOR SOMETHING BIGGER
These last few days have been full of emotion and anguish for freshman pin-hitter
Tali Hakas. Hakas, who was born in Uruguay but has lived in Israel with her family since she was 12 started getting messages from home after Friday night's match vs. Cal State Fullerton. Hakas was recently released from the Israeli army after serving her mandatory time finishing her military career as a sergeant. She arrived in Hawai'i right before the start of two-a-days in August and made an instant impact. The high-energy player started the first nine matches, filling in at opposite. For the season, she has 70kills with 95 digs, 19 blocks and six service aces.
STARTING LINE-UP SHAKE-UP
Hawai'i started the season with the same lineup with
Tali Hakas at opposite for the first eight games. UH then started a more veteran lineup in the next six matches with senior
Kendra Ham at opposite. But for the last three matches, the Rainbow Wahine have had three different starting lineups giving opportunities to whomever did well in practice leading up to the matches.
GUERSCHING FINDING GROOVE
On the road at Long Beach State and UC San Diego, junior transfer
Paula Guersching came off the bench to put down six kills and hit at team-high .500 at Long Beach State. She then got her first career UH start at UCSD this past Saturday. She came through tying her UH career-high with seven kills. She dealt out five service aces with four digs and an assist.
•Last week against UC Irvine she put down a came off the bench, finishing one dig shy of a double-double with a UH career-high nine kills and 10 digs.
•The 6-2 pin-hitter transferred from Youngstown State where she had a prolific Penguin career. The 2022 Horizon Player of the Year dominated her first two collegiate seasons at YSU. In her final year as a Penguin, Guersching finished ranked in the top five in the NCAA, finishing third with 5.24 kill/set and 5.87 points/set; fifth with 12.84 attacks/set and 576 total kills; and sixth with 646.0 total points—all of which were YSU single-season records. The Schwalbach am Taunus, Germany-native became the fastest player in YSU history to reach 1,000 career kills finishing her two seasons with 1,006 while becoming the first YSU player to earn AVCA All-America honorable mention honors.
EVANS SOLID IN THE MIDDLE
Senior middle blocker
Kennedi Evans is coming on strong. On UH's last road trip, she posted a season-high eight blocks at Long Beach State and the following night put down a career-high (for both UH and Utah) 13 kills. She has at least one block in every match this season.
• Overall, Evans has 88 kills averaging 1.47 kill/set and hitting .275 with 53 total blocks and .88 blocks/set. In conference, Evans has raised her game. in UH's six Big West matches, she has 34 kill and is now averaging 1.89 kill/set. She is hitting at a .390 clip (34-4-77) and is averaging 1.00 blocks/set with 18 total blocks.
ALEXANDER RISING
Sophomore OH
Caylen Alexander's hard work this past off-season is paying dividends now. She second on the team with 181 kills, third on the team with 13 service aces and 134 digs.
• Alexander has been in on 31 total blocks this season—five more than she had all last year. She has more block solos and block assists that she had when she was the BW Freshman of the Year in 2022.
• She also has more digs than a season ago, popping up 134 in 2023 and had 125 digs last season.
• She has recorded six double-doubles this season--including a streak of five-straight from 9/8-9/16/23.
• Alexander had notched at least a kill, a dig and a block in the first 15
matches she's played in this season. Her streak was snapped when she was unable to not a block in UH's most recent match vs. UC Irivne.
• Alexander made two preseason All-Tournament teams for the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic and the Fight in the Fort (Fort Worth, Texas)
HAM MAKES IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Last year,
Kendra Ham played a key role for UH, coming off the bench as a serving/defensive specialist in all 29 matches. She also saw spot duty rotating into the front row on occasion at opposite and had one start at opposite at Cal Poly, where she started her collegiate career--last season.
• This year, Ham bided her time early in the preseason seeing action in just two matches through the first eight. But beginning at TCU, Ham stepped into the starting role at opposite...and she did not disappoint. For the tournament, she recorded 26 kills, 37 digs, and five blocks. Ham notched her first career double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs vs. Western Carolina while hitting .476 against the Catamounts.
• She has started the last nine consecutive matches. For the season, the San Diego-native has 58 kills, 83 digs and 15 total blocks.
EDMONDS ANCHORING BACK ROW
Last year,
Talia Edmonds played in every match as a defensive specialist while getting three starts at libero when then starter
Tayli Ikenaga was injured at the end of warm ups right before UH's match vs. UC San Diego.
• This year, Edmonds won the starting libero job and has quarterbacked the back row well. She leads UH with 208 digs averaging a career-high 3.59 digs/set and she is second on the team with 44 assists.
SENIOR LEADERSHIP FROM WAGONER
Senior outside hitter
Riley Wagoner has been a steady force for the 'Bows throughout her career at the pins. The unflappable Wagoner is tied for the team-lead with Igiede with 14 service aces and is third on the team with 144 kills and is No. 4 with 133 digs.
• Her streak of 47-straight starts ended when she didn't start UH's match vs. Cal State Fullerton last Friday. But she has played in the last 71-consecutive matches.
• Wagoner has posted five double-doubles this season. She put down a season-high 17 kills against UCLA (9/10/23)
• She dealt a career-high four service aces against Southern California (9/2/23)
• Last year, Wagoner earned all-Big West First Team honors
• The floor captain was named to the OUTRIGGER Volleyball Challenge's All-Tournament team earlier this year.
