HONOLULU — After another sluggish start, the University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team finished off the opening week of the season with a four-set victory over San Diego in the finale of the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic on Sunday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
The Rainbow Wahine (2-0) dropped a lopsided first set for the second straight match, but again turned the momentum in the second and pulled out an 11-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-20 victory over the Toreros (0-2) and captured the tournament title.
Caylen Alexander led the Rainbow Wahine (2-0) with 17 kills and had 11 digs in her second straight double-double and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Stella Adeyemi added 11 kills and was named to the All-Tournament Team along with freshman
Victoria Leyva, who served up three aces to go along with seven digs.
Freshman middle blocker
Miliana Sylvester put together a breakout performance with 10 kills in 20 attempts while hitting .400.
Tali Hakas added five kills and popped up a match-high 14 digs and setter
Kate Lang finished with 40 assists.
As in Friday's opener against SMU, the Rainbow Wahine fell behind early in the first set with three errors contributing to a 7-1 San Diego lead and prompting an early UH timeout. The Toreros served up back-to-back aces while extending the lead to 12-2 and cruised to the set win.
After hitting negative-.200 in the opening set, the 'Bows pulled off a reversal in the second to hit .387 with 16 kills and four errors in 31 attempts. Alexander had five kills and a solo block to push UH to a 6-5 lead in the second set and the 'Bows opened up an 11-7 lead on a Sylvester kill. Sylvester went on to post four kills on five attempts in the set and scored on a slide punctuate the set and even the match.
The teams traded runs early in the third set, then stayed within two points of each other before USD opened up a 15-12 margin at the technical timeout. The Toreros led 18-15 when UH went on a 7-0 run with Adeyemi posting three kills. USD closed to 23-22 when Alexander put away the next two points to give UH the set.
San Diego again took an early lead in the fourth only to see UH respond again and move ahead 11-10 on an ace from Leyva. UH took control with a 5-1 run to open up a 19-14 lead and finished off the win with Hakas' kill off the block.
The Rainbow Wahine return to SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center for a two-match series with Pepperdine on Sept. 6 and 7. Both matches are set for 7 p.m.
All-Tournament Team
Celia Cullen, SMU
Maya Tabron, SMU
Kennedy Osunsanmi, San Diego
Madi Allen, San Diego
Stella Adeyemi, Hawai'i
Victoria Leyva, Hawai'i
Most Valuable Player — Caylen Alexander, Hawai'i
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