FULLERTON, Calif. — The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team finished off a third consecutive sweep to enter the final day of the regular season in a three-team tie for first place in the Big West race.
The Rainbow Wahine (19-8, 13-4 Big West) rolled past Cal State Fullerton (4-24, 0-18) on Friday by scores of 25-19, 25-15, 25-18 at Titan Gym in Fullerton, Calif., to open their final road trip of the regular season.
The 'Bows will remain in Orange County to close the regular season schedule at UC Irvine on Saturday at the Bren Events Center. UH heads into the Saturday's play tied with Cal Poly and UC Davis atop the conference standings. Cal Poly and UC Davis face each other on Saturday and the top two teams at the end of the day will earn byes into the semifinals of next week's Big West Championship in Irvine.
UH sophomore
Stella Adeyemi continued her recent hot streak by matching her career high with 13 kills while hitting .355 to help UH remain perfect in the all-time series with Cal State Fullerton.
Middle blocker
Jacyn Bamis added 11 kills and outside hitter
Tali Hakas posted nine kills and set a career high with 22 digs in the three-set win. Hakas also handled a team-high 22 serve receptions without an error.
Tayli Ikenaga was next with 18 digs and UH posted 61 digs to Cal State Fullerton's 47.
UH kills leader
Caylen Alexander finished with seven while playing the first two sets in a balanced UH attack. Setter
Kate Lang had 37 assists and directed the 'Bows to a .296 hitting percentage.
Cal State Fullerton took an early lead at 8-4 in the first set. UH then hit .640 over the remainder of the set with 16 kills and one error on 25 attempts to catch and pass the Titans. UH led 19-17 when Lang tapped down a kill, Alexander had back to back kills to give UH set point and Bamis closed it out with a kill through the middle. Adeyemi put away six kills in the set and Alexander had five kills in her 10 swings.
UH took command of the second set with a 6-2 run to open up a 20-12 lead. The 'Bows closed out the set with three consecutive blocks with
Miliana Sylvester teaming up with fellow freshman
Adrianna Arquette on two occasions.
Hakas helped UH maintain the momentum in the third set with six kills on 10 errorless attempts, nine digs and an ace. UH hit .304 as a team in the set and all 13 players on the roster saw playing time with freshman
Maddie Way closing out the 84-minute match.
Lyla Traylor led Cal State Fullerton with nine kills and Ashley Chacon had 11 digs for the Titans.
#HawaiiWVB
