HONOLULU—The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team begins defense of its Big West title as the conference season begins with Cal State Bakersfield on Friday, Sept. 22 at 7:00 p.m. HT followed by CSUN on Sunday, Sept. 24 at an early 4:00 p.m. HT start time. The Rainbow Wahine wrapped up its non-conference schedule with a 7-4 overall record and went 2-1 last week in the Fight in the Fort tournament, notching a pair of sweeps over Western Carolina and Florida State in Fort Worth, Texas.
 

MATCHES #12 & 13
Opponent | Date | Time				Cal State Bakersfield | Friday, Sept. 22 | 7:00 p.m. HT CSUN | Sunday, Sept. 24 | 4:00 p.m. HT
Location				SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center (10,300) - Honolulu, O'ahu
Tickets				ETicketHawaii.com
Promotions				Friday Promotions • RAISING CANE'S is the title sponsor on Friday (Sept. 22) and will distribute 200 UH keychain lanyards and award Raising Cane's gift baskets (includes Cane's goodies and Free Box Combo card). • Friday is also NATIONAL ICE CREAM CONE DAY and Meadow Gold will be giving away free ice cream before the start of the match while supplies last. • Friday is NATIONAL GIRLS NIGHT. All Wahine are encouraged to gather with their girlfriends and join the Rainbow Wahine Volleyball team for a night out. Sunday Promotions • AMERICAN SAVINGS BANK is the sponsor on Sunday and will award great prizes throughout the match. Fans, please visit the sports marketing table (near Gate A) to register for a chance to win. • Sunday is PRIDE NIGHT. In celebration of pride night, fans are encouraged to wear their favorite rainbow colors. The first 1,500 fans will receive rainbow colored lei (Gate A). • AUTOGRAPH SESSION with the Rainbow Wahine will follow Sunday's match
Game Day Information				SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center Game Day Information page
Game Day Rosters				CLICK HERE (PDF)
Virtual Program				CLICK HERE
Television				Spectrum OC16 - Ch. 16 (SD) or Ch. 1016 (HD) - Kanoa Leahey (Play-by-Play), Chris McLachlin (Color); Scott Robbs, Lisa Strand, Ryan Kalei Tsuji (Thurs), Ryan Kalei Tsuji (Pre/Post match)
Live Stream				ESPN+ (Blacked out in Hawai'i) - Only for UH matches Friday - ESPN+ Sunday - ESPN+
Radio				ESPN Honolulu | 1420 AM / 92.7 FM | Tiff Wells (play-by-play)
Live Audio Stream				ESPNHonolulu.com  | Sideline Hawaii App
Live Stats				Friday vs. Cal State Bakersfield Sunday vs. CSUN
Game Notes				Hawai'i  |  Cal State Bakersfield  | CSUN
Social Media				@HawaiiWVB  | #HawaiiWVB #GoBows | @HawaiiWVB  | Facebook

HAWAI'I RAINBOW WAHINE (7-4, 0-0 Big West)Head Coach: Robyn Ah Mow (Seventh Season)
Record at UH: 115-40
Big West Record: 79-9

CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD (5-8, 1-0 Big West)Head Coach: Giovana Melo (10th Season)
Series record: UH leads, 6-0
Streak: UH won six
Last meeting: UH swept the Roadrunners on Senior Night at the Stan (11/20/22), 25-13, 25-10, 25-12. Amber Igiede put down a match-high 16 kills with six blocks, while Riley Wagoner posted a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs. In the first meeting between CSU Bakersfield and Hawai'i, the 'Bows edged out the 'Runners in five, 23-25, 25-15, 25-14, 18-25, 15-8. In the win, four UH hitters had double-digit kills with Wagoner leading the way with a match-high 19 kills, Igiede added 17 kills and eight blocks. Caylen Alexander put down 11 kills while Tiffany Westerberg contributed with 10 kills.
 CSUN (2-10, 0-1 Big West)Head Coach: John Price (Second Season)
Series record: UH leads 30-2
Streak: UH won last 16
Last meeting: In the final regular season match of 2022, UH defeated CSUN in four sets, 25-18, 25-20, 18-25, 25-9. Igiede led UH with a match-high 19 kills, .607 hit% with six digs, six blocks and a career-high four service aces. Alexander added 12 kills with a career-high six blocks. In their first meeting last season, UH swept the Matadors, 25-15, 25-18, 25-18 with Riley Wagoner supplying the power with 16 kills and a block in Honolulu.

LAST TIME OUT...Hawai'i closed out its non-conference schedule and the Fight in the Fort tournament on Saturday. After falling in tough four setter to host TCU on Thursday, the Rainbow Wahine bounced back with back-to-back sweeps over Western Carolina and Florida State to finish the tourney with a 2-1 record. Both Amber Igiede and Caylen Alexander were named to the all-tournament team.

Hawai'i vs. TCU - UH opened strong early against TCU. Hawai'i led by as many as five  points to start the first set, but later saw its lead evaporate. Trailing 23-20, the Horned Frogs rallied on a 6-to-1 to tie and retake the lead to serve for the set at 25-24, but the 'Bows were able to score final three-straight points on a pair of Caylen Alexander kills that sandwiched a  Kendra Ham kill to win Set 1,  27-25.
In Set 2, UH led from the get-go and was serving for the second set at 24-20. TCU then scored five-straight to leapfrog past UH into a 25-24 lead for its first lead of the set. This time it was UH who held off one set point, but fell, 27-25 as TCU tied the match at 1-1. Set 3 was all TCU, leading wire-to-wire to coast to a 25-15 win. Set 4 was close through the first nine points before TCU slowly pulled away to eventually win the match, 25-20. Final score was 27-25, 25-27, 15-25, 20-25.
      In the loss, Alexander put down a career-high 21 kills to go with 10 digs and two blocks. Amber Igiede added 14.

Hawai'i vs. WCU - UH rebounded the next day day by sweeping Western Carolina, 25-15, 25-18, 25-19. Three Rainbow Wahine notched double-digit kills and double figure digs.
Igiede put down a season-high 21 kills, hitting a season-best .625 with just one error in 32 attacks. She also was in on a match-high seven blocks. In just her second start of the season, Kendra Ham recorded her first double-double with a career-high 12 kills and 11 digs to go with four assists and two blocks. Alexander buried 11 kills with a career-high 16 digs for her double-double, while on defense only, Talia Edmonds added 16 digs.
As a team, with setter Kate Lang at the controls, UH hit a season-best .345 hitting percentage with a season-low 10 errors. Lang issued 40 assists and had a .460 assist percentage.

Hawai'i vs. FSU - UH closed the tourney against the NCAA's hitting percentage leader, Florida State. The Seminoles came into the week hitting at a .377 clip, but UH held FSU to a season-low .117 hitting percentage. After winning two marathon sets over the Seminoles, the 'Bows rolled in the third in its most lopsided set win this year, 32-30, 25-23, 25-13.
Alexander led UH with her third double-double of the week with 15 kills and 11 digs while Riley Wagoner bounced back after a couple tough matches to record her fifth double-double of the season with 12 kills and 10 digs. Igiede continued her hot hitting putting down 14 kills while Edmonds popped up a match-high 19 digs. Kennedi Evans was solid in the middle with eight kills and seven blocks and a .467 hitting %.

NEWS & NOTESLANG EARNS FIFTH-STRAIGHT BW SETTER OF THE WEEK AWARD - For the fourth-straight time this season, junior Kate Lang earned Big West Setter of the Week award after distributing 134 assists and averaging 13.40 assists/set this past week in the Fight in the Fort tournament in Fort Worth, Texas. It is her seventh career Setter of the Week honor. Lang, a Keller, Texas-native, returned to her home state and helped direct the Rainbow Wahine to a 2-1 record with wins over Western Carolina and Florida State and a tough loss to host team, TCU. She had over 40 assists in every match and was in on six blocks.
After falling to the Horned Frogs to begin the tournament, the Wahine bounced back with a sweep over Western Carolina in which Lang directed the offense to a season-high .345 team hitting percentage with a season-low 10 hitting errors. She posted 40 assists averaging 15.00 assists/set with a .460 set percentage in 87 chances. Currently, Lang leads the BW and is No. 11 in the NCAA with 10.98 assists/set.

ALEXANDER RAISING HER GAME - Sophomore Caylen Alexander's hard work in the off-season is paying dividends now. Currently, she is on a five-match double-double streak. Last week Alexander put down a career-high 21 kills in a four-set loss to TCU.  In UH's second match, she popped up a career-high 16 digs. Through the first 11 matches of the season she is averaging career-highs across the board with 3.44 kill/set, 2.35 digs/set and .58 blocks/set compared to 2.78 k/s, 1.18 d/s, and .25 blk/s. She already has 25 total blocks this year, just one shy of what she recorded last season (26). Alexander already has more blocks solos that she had as a freshman. She is also just 24 digs away from improving on her 2022 total of 125. Alexander leads UH with six double-doubles, 10 double-digit kill matches and 407 total attacks. She is second on the team with 148 kills and third in blocks (25).

IGIEDE POWERING THE 'BOWS - Reigning Big West Player of the Year, senior middle Amber Igiede continues to lead the Big West in hitting percentage (.401), points (201.0), and points per set (4.67). She is also ranked No. 2 in the BW in kill per set (3.70) and total kills (159). She has notched nine double-digit kills matches and has recorded 10 double-digit point matches with a season high of 24.5 against both Liberty and Western Carolina. Last week, Igiede led UH in kills (49), kill/set (4.90), tied in blocks with Kennedi Evans (12.0) and tied with Riley Wagoner in service aces. She put down a season-high 21 kills and .625 hitting percentage in UH's sweep over WCU. Igiede continues to climb up the UH record books. she is now ranked No. 18 with 1,095 career kills; No. 4 in career solo blocks (94) and No. 5 with 454 total blocks.

HAM MAKES IMMEDIATE IMPACT - Senior Kendra Ham started all three matches in Texas last week, and she made the most of the opportunity after seeing limited action in two earlier matches to start the year. Last week, she put down 26 kills with 37 digs, five blocks and five assists and notched her first career double-double. Ham posted a career-high 12 kills vs. Western Carolina (9/15/23) and a career-high with three blocks against Florida State in the tourney finale last week. The team's Swiss Army Knife saw action in all 29 matches last year, primarily as a serving/defensive specialist. 

MANOA ROOFING COMPANY/EVANS STEADY IN THE MIDDLE - UH's middle blockers Evans and Igiede have been solid this season, combining to account for 88 of UH's 97 total blocks. Igiede leads Uh with 11 block solos and 42 block assists, while Evans, who transferred from Utah last year, is second on the team with nine block solos and 26 block assists. On offense, Evans has proven to be a steady force at the net with 54 kills and 35.0 total blocks. In UH's most recent match vs. Florida State, she tied her season-high with eight kills and hitting a career-best .467 *8-1-15) to go with a season-high seven total blocks.

EDMONDS ANCHORING BACK ROW - Senior Talia Edmonds has solidified her role as the UH libero leading the 'Bows with 163 digs and 3.79 digs/set. The Michigan State transfer has posted nine double-digit dig matches--including the last six-straight. Last week in Texas, she recorded at team-best 48 digs and upped her average in the three matches combined to 4.80 digs/set.