HONOLULU — The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team saw a strong start dissipate into a four-set loss to UC Davis to open a Big West homestand on Friday at SimpliFI Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
Coming off a sweep of their first conference road trip, the Rainbow Wahine (9-6, 3-2 Big West) surged ahead early but UC Davis (10-5, 5-1) finished strong to take the league lead with a 22-25, 25-21, 28-26, 25-17 win.
UH middle blocker
Jacyn Bamis scored on eight of her first 10 swings and tied her career high with 11 kills on 17 error-free swings to hit a season-high .674. Outside hitter
Caylen Alexander finished with a team-high 15 kills and contributed 11 digs in her 10
th double-double of the season.
Tali Hakas posted a season-high 11 kills.
Libero
Tayli Ikenaga had 21 digs, going over the 20-dig mark for the fifth time this season, and
Victoria Leyva had a season-high 15. Setter
Kate Lang finished with 47 assists and 10 digs to post her 44
th career double-double.
Olivia Utterback led UC Davis with 21 kills and Jade Light added 18 and the Aggies earned their second win in the all-time series with UH.
Leyva opened the night with an ace and UC Davis blocks accounted for four of the Aggies' first nine points as the teams traded early runs. Alexander's first kill gave UH a 15-14 lead and the 'Bows took a 19-16 lead on a block by Bamis before UCD closed to 20-19 and tied it at 21-21 with an ace. UH edged ahead and Alexander gave UH set point with her second kill of the night and ended the set with a solo block.
UH led 15-13 in the second set before UC Davis went on a 5-1 run and took an 18-16 lead on back-to-back aces. The Aggies maintained the lead and closed out the set on Light's 10
th kill to tie the match. UC Davis hit .457 in the set while UH hit .419.
UH took a 7-3 lead in the third set but UC Davis went on a 6-0 run to take a 12-9 lead. UH came back to tie the set and moved ahead 17-16 on an Alexander ace. The set remained tight and UC Davis edged ahead at 23-22. After the teams traded sideouts, UH survived a set point when Alexander ended an extended rally to force deuce and her shot down the line gave UH set point. UC Davis twice fought off set point then took the lead on a block and ended the set with a kill by Utterback.
Two aces helped UC Davis take a 3-0 lead in the fourth set. UH tied the set before the Aggies went on a 4-0 run to take a 15-11 lead at the technical timeout. UC Davis maintained control and closed the match with a 5-0 run.
The Rainbow Wahine close the homestand on Sunday against UC Riverside (5-13, 0-5). Opening serve is set for 5 p.m.
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