HONOLULU — Before celebrating the careers of two standout seniors, the University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team closed out the home schedule with a sweep of UC San Diego on Saturday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
The Rainbow Wahine (18-8, 12-4 Big West) hit a collective .340 and put down a season-high 13 blocks to roll to a 25-16, 25-13, 25-19 victory before a season-high crowd of 8,229. With their seventh win in the last eight matches, the 'Bows remained tied with Cal Poly atop the conference standings and secured their place in the six-team field for the Big West Championship in Irvine, Calif.
UH closes the regular season on the road with matches at Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 22) and UC Irvine (Nov. 23) leading into the conference tournament set for Nov. 27-30 at the Bren Events Center.
The emotion of Senior Night was evident right from pregame introductions, but the Rainbow Wahine maintained their composure and focus to finish off a second straight sweep. After the final point, the Rainbow Wahine gave seniors
Tayli Ikenaga and
Kate Lang a rousing sendoff in the traditional Senior Night ceremony.
In her final match in Mānoa, Ikenaga posted a match-high 17 digs to raise her career total to 1,288 and ranks sixth in the program history. Ikenaga led a UH defense that popped up 51 digs to UCSD's 37.
Lang continued her ascent on the UH career charts with 36 assists, moving past UH head coach
Robyn Ah Mow into third place on the all-time list with 4,346 assists. She also had three kills and nine digs and directed the UH attack to a .476 hitting percentage through two sets.
Caylen Alexander started at opposite and finished with a match-high 14 kills to boost her season total to 540. She passed Emily Hartong's 527 kills in 2012 for the program's highest total since the NCAA implemented the current scoring 25-point scoring system in 2008.
Stella Adeyemi continued her hot hitting with 12 kills in 25 attempts to hit .400.
Tali Hakas posted nine kills, two aces and 10 digs.
Hakas tied her career high with six blocks,
Jacyn Bamis set a season high with six as well. Alexander had a season-best five blocks, including two solo.
UH took control of the opening set with a 7-2 run and UH opened up a 16-11 lead on Alexander's solo block. UH closed the set with a 5-1 run capped by a block by Bamis and Hakas.
UH jumped out to an 8-for-14 start without an error to take a 13-6 lead in the second set. UH extended the lead to 20-10 with a 6-1 surge highlighted a Hakas ace and two Alexander kills and cruised to a 2-0 lead in the match.
UC San Diego put together a 5-1 run to tie the third set at 10-10 before Hakas' solo block triggered a 6-1 UH run. UH maintained control through aloha ball with Hakas' ninth kill closing out the match and starting the senior celebration.
Ava McInnis led UCSD (16-11, 10-6) with 10 kills and UH's defense held the Tritons to .109 hitting.
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