LA JOLLA, Calif.—The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team (10-5, 3-1 Big West) bounced back to record their first true road win of the season with a sweep at UC San Diego, 25-18, 25-16, 25-17. UH pulled away late in all three sets to win going away on Saturday at the LionTree Arena in La Jolla, Calif.
 
Senior middle blocker Kennedi Evans was on fire, putting down a career-high 13 kills while hitting a match-high .522. Evans started the match with five kills in the first set and closed it with six kills in the third. Fellow middle Amber Igiede pounded 10 kills down. She had three hitting errors in the first set and remained error free the rest of the match to hit .700 (7-0-10) in the final two sets combined.
 
Hawai'i's offense was clicking with setter Kate Lang at the controls. Lang dished out a match-high 38 assists while adding two kills and three digs plus an ace as UH out-hit the Tritons .388-to-.190. All five UH starting hitters recorded six or more kills an in all, nine different Rainbow Wahine posted at least one kill--including Lang herself wo added two.
 
In her first career start at UH, junior outside hitter Paula Guersching played well all-around, putting away seven kills with five service aces and four digs to help lift UH to the victory. She went on long service runs at critical times. In Set 1, UH and UCSD were tied at 17-17. A kill by Kendra Ham gave UH an 18-17 lead. Guersching then served six-straight points extending its lead to 24-17, eventually winning the set, 25-18. In the third set with UH trailing 14-15, an Evans kill tied the score at 15-15. Guersching then served the next four-straight points—including a pair of aces to retake the lead for good at 19-15.

On defense, Igiede led the 'Bows with three blocks while Riley Wagoner scooped up a team-high 11 digs for her sixth double-digit dig match and libero Talia Edmonds added 10 digs.  

Set 1 was a battle with 14 ties and seven lead changes. Hawai'i was trailing at 10-12 before a five-point scoring run with Igiede serving allowed UH to catch and take a 15-12 lead. But UCSD would immediately respond scoring four-straight to seesaw back in front at 16-15. With the scored tied at 17-17, the Rainbow Wahine reeled off six consecutive points with Guersching serving as UH took a commanding 24-17 lead. UH would take Set 1, 25-18.
 
After the Tritons took a 4-3 lead in the second set, Hawai'i started to roll scoring in small bunches to pulling away to win, 25-16 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
UH did not lead in the final frame until the halfway point. The two teams were tied five times early but UC San Diego held off the 'Bows, taking the lead going into the media timeout at 15-14. UH with Guersching again serving would swing the momentum back to Hawai'i after a 5-0 run to tie and overtake the lead en route to a 25-17 win to seal the sweep.
 
UCSD (8-8, 0-4 Big West) entered the week leading the Big West averaging 2.66 blocks per set. But UH out blocked the Tritons, 5.0-to-3.0 and UCSD was held to one block over the final two sets. The Tritons' Ava McInnes posted 11 kills while setter Lauren Brooker issued 19 assists. Libero Natalie Repetti popped up a match-high 16 digs.

Hawai'i returns home this week to host Cal State Fullerton on Friday, Oct. 6 and UC Irvine on Saturday, Oct. 7. First serve for both matches is at 7:00 p.m. HT.