HONOLULU--The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team will host a trio of Spring matches this week at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. The Rainbow Wahine will host UNLV on Tuesday, March 12th, Colorado State on Wednesday, March 13th and Notre Dame on Thursday, March 14th. First serve for all matches is 7:00 p.m. HT.
HAWAI'I RAINBOW WAHINE (2024: 24-9, 14-4 Big West, 1st)
Head Coach: Robyn Ah Mow (Seventh Season)
Record at UH: 132-45
Big West Record: 93-13
UNLV REBELS (2024: 19-13, 11-7 Mountain West, 3rd)
Head Coach: Malia Shoji (Second Season)
Record at UNLV: 19-3
Mountain West Record: 11-7
UNLV recorded a 19-13 overall record and finished third in the Mountain West standings with an 11-7 conference mark. The Rebels advanced to the postseason for the sixth-straight season, falling to Sacramento State in the first round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC). UNLV lost four players but have a upper-classman heavy team returning eight senior/graduate students under second year head coach Malia Shoji--the niece of former UH head coach Dave Shoji.
COLORADO STATE RAMS (19-12, 12-6 Mountain West, 2nd)
Head Coach: Emily Kohan (Second Season)
Record at CSU: 19-12
Mountain West Record: 12-6
Colorado State finished second in the Mountain West regular season standings, and fell in a heart-breaker to Fresno State in the MW Championship match in a reverse sweep that ended its season. This past season red-shirt junior Malaya Jones led the Rams putting down a team-high 466 kills while averaging 3.73 kills/set. In the back row, local product Kate Yoshimoto led CSU with 421 digs as a red-shirt sophomore.
NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH (11-15, 5-13 ACC, 12th)
Head Coach: Salima Rockwell (Third Season)
Record at Notre Dame: 21-33
ACC Record: 10-26
The Fighting Irish finished 12th in the ACC under second-year head coach Salima Rockwell. Notre Dame is led by incoming senior Sydney Palazzolo who led the Irish offensively with a team-best 389 kills and 50 service aces.
QUICK HITS-Last season, the Rainbow Wahine won the inaugural Big West Championship to capture its fourth-straight conference crown to advance to the program's 30th-straight NCAA tournament and 41st NCAA appearance overall
-In the BW tournament, UH swept both Cal Poly and Long Beach State in the semifinal and championship matches respectively.
-UH defeated Iowa State in the NCAA First Round, 3-1, but fell to host Oregon.
-The Rainbow Wahine return 10 letterwinners--including veterans
Kate Lang,
Caylen Alexander, and
Tayli Ikenaga
-Joining the team this spring is incoming freshman
Victoria Leyva who is a libero/defensive specialist from El Paso, Texas.
-The Rainbow Wahine have to some big shoes to fill with the departure of seniors
Amber Igiede,
Riley Wagoner,
Kennedi Evans,
Kendra Ham,
Talia Edmonds and
Chandler Cowell.
-Departing players Igiede, Wagoner, Evans, and Ham accounted for 62% of UH's kills and 75% of the team's blocks
-Incoming senior setter
Kate Lang earned All-Big West second-team honors after a solid junior season. In 2023, for the third-straight season, led the Big West with a career-high 1,229 assists and averaged a career-high 10.50 assists per set. She posted career-highs in digs (300), digs/ser (2.56), and total blocks (46.0). Lang also became just the 10th Rainbow Wahine in program history to surpass the 1,000 assist milestone.
-Incoming junior,
Caylen Alexander is the leading returning hitter, last season, she finished second on the team putting down 319 kills while averaging 3.10 kill/set. She was also second on the team with 25 service aces. On defense she nearly doubled her block production with 50.0 total blocks compared to the 26.0 she tallied as a freshman. She also improved from scooping up 125 digs in 2022 compared to 226 digs as a sophomore.
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