Wahine volleyball sweeps UC Riverside to go 2-0 in Big West Conference play
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine volleyball team got a straight-set sweep over UC Riverside on Saturday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
In their second match of Big West Conference opening weekend, the Wahine got off to a hot start, winning set one, 25-17 over the Highlanders.
However, the night wasn’t drama free, UCR storming out in the second, Hawaii at one point facing an eight-point deficit, but from then on the Rainbows made a run, clawing their way back to take the set, 25-23.
“I thought they did a good job of coming back in the second, I said in the locker room I think it was just a lack of like focus, it was just frustration, I mean every team is going to come in here and we say it all the time they’re going to play their best game against us.” UH head coach Robyn Ah Mow told reporters. “Being down eight points I thought they did a great job coming back you know, they went back out and really focused in on what they needed to do.”
After intermission, UH with a chance to sweep, the Wahine pull away to take set three, 25-13.
“Its a good start, we’ve been talking a lot about our standards and like where we want to be.” UH libero Tayli Ikenaga said. “I felt like it set a pretty good standard and we just want to keep building off of that and just keep getting better and just keep being able to keep growing.”
On the stat sheet, freshman Caylen Alexander notched a game-high 15 kills, while Amber Igiede added 12 kills — both wahine went error free on the night.
With the win, Hawaii moves to 2-0 in conference play and despite the two sweep weekend, the team is not satified as they continue their league schedule.
“Like yes we swept them, but we also let it get that close all at the same time.” UH setter Kate Lang said. “So it’s just fixing the little things and a lot of preseason was about those two points or those little plays that happened but should not have happened, so just trying to raise our standard everyday by making those errors smaller and smaller.”
Hawaii is on the road next week, taking on Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State.
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