HONOLULU — The University of Hawai'i women's volleyball team opened the final week of the regular season by finishing off a four-set win over UC San Diego on Friday at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
The Rainbow Wahine (12-16, 8-9 Big West) surged late in the first and second sets and ran away in the fourth in their 25-18, 25-20, 18-25, 25-15 victory over the Tritons.
With the win, UH moved a game ahead of UC Irvine for sixth place in the Big West standings with one day left in the regular season in their bid for the final berth in the six-team the Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Women's Volleyball Championship next week in Long Beach, Calif.
The Rainbow Wahine close out the regular season on Saturday with a Senior Night/White Out matchup with Long Beach State.
The 'Bows needed a win on Friday to strengthen their position for a spot in the conference bracket and improved to 11-0 in the all-time series with UCSD with Friday's win.
Cha'lei Reid put away a match-high 18 kills in 48 attempts and served up three of UH's 10 aces as the 'Bows posted a double-digit performance from the service line for the fourth time this season.
Bri Gunderson put away nine kills and was in on eight blocks and fellow senior
Tyla Reese Mane added eight kills in 19 error-free attacks to hit .421. Mane contributed to five of UH's 12 blocks on the night.
Adrianna Arquette posted her 10
th double-double of the season with 39 assists and 12 digs.
Leilani Lopez provided a spark with pivotal service turns and tied her career high with three aces.
Victoria Leyva ran her streak of matches with double-figure digs to 11 with 13 digs on Friday.
Playing its final match of the season, UCSD scored the first four points of the match and UH battled back with back-to-back aces from Reid and a Mane block tied the set at 10-10. The 'Bows took their first lead of the night when Reid and Gunderson teamed on UH's fourth block of the set. With the set tied at 18-18, a kill by Gunderson sparked a 7-0 run to close out the set. Lopez served out the set and delivered an ace to push the lead to 23-18 and added another on set point.
The second set followed a similar script with the teams trading points midway through the set and UCSD edging ahead 19-18. Arquette put down a kill to tie it up and two tough serves from Lopez led to kills for
Miliana Sylvester and Reid to push the 'Bows ahead. UH would go on to close out the set with a 4-0 run highlighted by an ace from Arquette and the 'Bows led the match 2-0.
UCSD broke a 15-15 tie in the third set with a four-point run and closed out the set with another 4-0 surge to extend the match to the fourth.
UH all but erased thoughts of a fifth set with a 10-2 outburst that included three kills from Reid and two from
Ravyn Dash to open up a 15-7 lead. The 'Bows pulled away from there and punctuated the win with Arquette's solo block.
The 'Bows will honor their three seniors — Gunderson, Mane and
Morghn Monahan — following Saturday's regular-season finale against Long Beach State.
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