IRVINE, Calif. — After closing the regular season with a four-set loss at UC Irvine on Saturday, the University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team turns its focus to next week's return to the Bren Events Center to begin postseason play.
The Rainbow Wahine (19-9, 13-5 Big West) dropped their regular-season finale to the Anteaters (16-13, 10-8), who completed a sweep of the season series with UH with the 25-19, 15-25, 25-18, 25-19 win.
The 'Bows finished in a tie for second in the conference standings and will be back in Irvine for The Hawaiian Islands Presents the 2024 Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship. The three-day tournament opens Nov. 27 at the Bren Events Center.
Caylen Alexander led the 'Bows with 19 kills in 41 attempts and posted 13 digs in her 16
th double-double of the season. She also served up two aces and closed the regular season as the Big West's leader in total kills (566), kills per set (5.24), total points (626) and points per set (5.80).
UH libero
Tayli Ikenaga posted 14 digs and moved into fifth in program history with 1,320 career digs, passing Tara Hittle (1,315, 2004-08).
Middle blocker
Jacyn Bamis finished with 10 kills and two blocks and
Miliana Sylvester posted five block assists.
Tali Hakas led the team with 15 digs and
Victoria Leyva finished with 11.
Setter
Kate Lang had 42 assists to lead the Big West with 1,195 through the regular season.
Kendra McDonald led UC Irvine with 13 kills and Ofure Iselen was in on seven of the Anteaters' 11 blocks.
The Anteaters, who pulled out a reverse sweep in the season's first meeting with UH, won their fourth straight set against the Rainbow Wahine to open Saturday's rematch. UH led 11-7 before UCI went on a 9-2 run to move ahead. With the set tied at 17-17, the Anteaters put together a 5-0 surge to take control of the set. UH ended up hitting .053 in the opening set with 10 kills and eight errors.
UH jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the second set with
Jackie Matias on the service line for the bulk of a five-point UH run. The 'Bows stretched the lead to 16-9 on their fourth block of the match and ran away from there to even the match.
Miliana Sylvester scored on a slide for her sixth kill on set point.
UH and UCI played to a 14-14 tie in the third set before the Anteaters took command with a 5-0 run. The Anteaters finished off the set to take the lead in the match.
UCI Irvine rolled the momentum into the fourth set in breaking out to a 10-4 lead in back-to-back blocks. UH closed to 16-14 with a five-point run on Ikenaga's service turn, but the Anteaters closed the match on a 7-2 run to hold off the 'Bows.
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