FORT WORTH, Texas--The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team (5-3) embarks on its first roadtrip of the season this week. The Rainbow Wahine travel to Texas to compete in the Fight in the Fort tournament hosted by TCU at the Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Hawai'i opens the three-day tourney against TCU on Thursday, Sept. 14 at 1:00 p.m. HT. On Friday, Sept. 15 the 'Bows battle Western Carolina at 9:00 a.m. HT and will conclude their non-conference schedule with a match vs. Florida State on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 7:00 a.m. HT.
 

FIGHT IN THE FORT INFORMATION
Opponent | Date | Time				Thursday, Sept. 14 at 1:00 p.m. HT- TCU Friday, Sept. 15 at 9:00 a.m. HT - Western Carolina Saturday, Sept. 15 at 7:00 a.m. HT - Florida State
Location				Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena (6,800) - Fort Worth, Texas
Live Video Stream				Only UH's match vs. TCU will be streamed on ESPN+ (CLICK HERE)
Radio				All three matches will be aired on ESPN Honolulu | 1420 AM / 92.7 FM | Tiff Wells (play-by-play)
Live Audio Stream				ESPNHonolulu.com  | Sideline Hawaii App
Live Stats				GoFrogs.com (CLICK HERE)
Game Notes				Hawai'i | TCU | Western Carolina | Florida State
Social Media				@HawaiiWVB  | #HawaiiWVB #GoBows | @HawaiiWVB  | Facebook

HAWAI'I RAINBOW WAHINE (5-3, 0-0 Big West)Head Coach: Robyn Ah Mow (Seventh Season)
Record at UH: 113-39 / 79-9 Big West
Overall Record: Same

TCU HORNED FROGS (4-4, 0-0 Big XII)Series record: UH, 7-0
Streak: UH won seven
Last meeting: In the 2015 NCAA First Round (College Station, Texas), UH battled back from being a set down to defeat the Horned Frogs in five, 17-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21, 15-13.
Head Coach: Jason Williams (Second Season)

WESTERN CAROLINA CATAMOUNTS (3-6, 0-0 Southern Conference)Series record: First meeting
Head Coach:  Karen Glover (13th Season)


FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES (5-3, 0-0 ACC)Series record: First meeting
Head Coach: Chris Poole (16th Season)
 

LAST TIME OUT... • Hawai'i went 1-2 in their final home, non-conference tourney, the OUTRIGGER Volleyball Challenge to close out the team's three-week homestand to start the season.
• UH was upended by Liberty in the opener in five sets. In the loss, Amber Igiede put down a season-high 20 kills while hitting .429 (20-2-42). She also led UH with seven blocks. Riley Wagoner posted a double-double with a season-high 16 kills and 15 digs.
• The 'Bows then notched their first sweep of the season, pulling away from Pepperdine. Caylen Alexander led UH with a double-double, tying her season-high with 15 kills to go with 11 digs, while Wagoner continued her hot hitting, with 14 kills.
• UH played well in the first set vs. UCLA to take a 1-0 lead, but the Bruins would cruise to win Set 2 and then held UH off in the final two sets. Although UH out hit UCLA in kills assists and digs, UCLA out-blocked Hawai'i, 18.0-to-10.0 which led to UH's 31 hitting errors in the match. Wagoner improved her season-high to 17 kills  as Alexander posted her second-straight double-double with 15 kills and 11 digs. 
 
NEWS & NOTES • LANG NABS THIRD-STRAIGHT BIG WEST SETTER OF THE WEEK AWARD - In three matches, junior setter Lang recorded 127 assists, averaging 10.58 assists/set. She also scooped up 28 digs and was in on five blocks while notching a pair of double-doubles against Liberty and Pepperdine. In Thursday's five-set loss to Liberty, Lang issued a season-high 50 assists to go with 12 digs, three blocks and two kills. Lang followed it up with 37 assists and 10 digs in a victorious effort against Pepperdine. Against the Waves, she averaged a season-high 12.33 assists/set as the 'Bows posted a season-best .324 hitting percentage. She capped the weekend with 40 assists in the tournament finale against UCLA. Dating back to last season, Lang has now earned the last four BW Setter of the Week awards.

• HOMECOMING FOR LANG - For the second-straight season Lang will be returning Texas to play in a pre-season tournament. Last year, UH competed in the Texas A&M Invitational to open the season in College Station, Texas. The Keller, Texas native returns to her home state leading the Big West in total assists (338) and assists/set (10.24). For her career, she is ranked at No. 7 in UH history averaging 10.31 assists/set in her three-year career. 

• 'BOWS FALL OUT OF TOP 25 - After working hard the first two weeks to earn its first AVCA/Taraflex Top 25 ranking since 2019, UH fell out of the poll after just one week. The 1-2 record in the OUTRIGGER Volleyball Challenge dropped UH from No. 23 to No. 31.

• IGIEDE POWERING UH ON OFFENSE & DEFENSE - Senior middle blocker Amber Igiede continues to lead Hawai'i in kills (110), kills/set (3.33), hitting percentage (.363), total blocks (41), and blocks/set (1.24). She also has the team lead with nine block solos and 32 block assists and she has 36 digs and seven service aces for the season. Last week in three matches, she put down 40 kills while averaging 3.33 per set with a team-best 15 blocks. Currently, Igiede leads the Big West in hitting percentage (.363) and total points (142.0) and points/set (4.30). She earned her second all-tournament team honor for her play in the OUTRIGGER Volleyball Challenge. Last week against Southern California, Igiede put down her 1,000th career kill to become just the 21st Rainbow Wahine to accomplish the feat. She is ranked No. 20 all-time in UH history with 1,046 kills and is ranked No. 3 with a career hitting percentage of .393.

• ALEXANDER POWER SURGE - Sophomore outside hitter Caylen Alexander finished last week strong, putting down 15 kills against both Pepperdine and UCLA. She is one of two Rainbow Wahine (Riley Wagoner) to have recorded 10+ kills in seven of UH's eight matches thus far. The Alpharetta, Ga. native continues where she left off after a standout freshman year, leading UH in service aces with 11.  She is also one of two Wahine to have reached the 100 kill mark this season (Igiede). Alexander has 101 kills averaging 3.06 kills/set. The six-rotation pin-hitter worked hard on her defense this past off-season and it has shown early in the first three weeks of the season. She has popped up 64 digs and has been in on 17 blocks. In 2022, Alexander finished her season with a total of 125 digs and 26 blocks.

• MĀNOA ROOFING COMPANY WORKING HARD - UH's twin towers in the middle of Kennedi Evans and Igiede has proved to be a solid combination for Hawai'i. On defense, the two together account for 64 of UH's 70 total blocks and 14 of UH's 20 block solos. On offense, Evans and Igiede have put down 150 of UH's 417 kills with five pin-hitters accounting for 260 kills.

• WAGONER COMING ON STRONG - Senior outside hitter Riley Wagoner has been on fire of late, posting five-straight and seven overall double-digit kill matches. The Dublin, Ohio-native is tied with Lang with a team-best four double-doubles thus far in 2023. Last week, against Pepperdine, she recorded 14 kills and a hit% of .355 to lead the 'Bows. She ended the week pounding a season-high 17 kills against UCLA. In the second set against the Bruins, Wagoner put down her 800th career kill and finished with 808 career kills.

• EDMONDS ANCHORING BACK ROW - Senior libero Talia Edmonds is the only Rainbow Wahine to have triple-digits in digs with 115. She has scooped up 10+ digs in six matches thus far with a season-high 26 coming against USC (8/31/23). The Michigan State-transfer is averaging a carer-best 3.48 digs per set. 

• SOLID CORE - Returning starters Igiede, Lang, Alexander, Wagoner and Edmonds are the center of UH's core. Four played in all 107 sets last season while Alexander played in 106 sets as a rookie in 2022. With the addition of Evans and Tali Hakas into the starting line up, only Hakas has missed a set. The other starting six have  played in all 33 sets this season. UH has only used five substitutes thus far in a combined 36 sets.


MAUI NŌ KA 'OIIn recognition of the devastating Maui wildfires in August, the Rainbow Wahine will be wearing a special patch on their sleeves for this season. Our condolences and prayers go out to all of those affected in this devastating event. Many in our UH 'ohana, including current and past student-athletes, coaches, and staff have been personally affected. If you would like to help, go to HawaiiAthletics.com and click on the "Maui Strong" story to be connected with organizations who are making a direct impact on the recovery and rebuilding in both Lahaina and Upcountry Maui.