ESPN Honolulu Rainbow Wahine play-by-play voice Tiff Wells with his six biggest takeaways from the previous week for the Bows
1 – Hawai`i Shines On National TV. As a Hawai`i sports fan, you’re both excited and nervous when hearing the words “Hawai`i on National Television.” With a slow start on Friday (down 0-2) where the Five Settah Sistahs struck again, fans were left to wonder what was left in the tank for a rivalry match, less than 24 hours later, and on National Television no less. While The Beach had a day to rest in between their two matches, UH was playing a back-to-back. The latest Long Beach led in any set was at 11-10 in Set 1 and 5-4 in Set 3. Other than that, it was all Hawai`i. Lengthy service runs from Caylen Alexander, Jackie Matias and Kate Lang kept the Beach trailing for the majority of the match. UH hit .265 (44-18-98), while Alexander went for a season-high .452 hitting percentage (18-4-31). What is normally an ultra-quick offense, the LBSU hitters were continually tipping or being soft-blocked by UH. While UH was out-blocked 11-7 by The Beach, every other statistical category UH owned. The Bows held Natalie Glenn, one of the best attackers and servers in the conference, to a season-low five kills. For just the third time this season, Glenn didn’t record a service ace. 101 minutes was all that was needed for the most complete match played by the Rainbow Wahine en route to a 2-0 road weekend. A total team win that gave its two seniors (Tayli Ikenaga and Lang) one final victory in their last ever appearance inside The Pyramid. It’s easy to get up for a match against your rival and the Bows dominated on their way to their third consecutive win against Long Beach State.
2 – Defense Traveled. In just their second road-trip this season, a customary slow start put the Bows in an 0-2 deficit against UC San Diego. Some soul searching in between sets two and three, it was a tale of two teams as UH won sets 3 and 4 by a combined score of 50-26. After hitting .480 in Set 1, the Tritons hit .091 in Set 3, .054 in Set 4 and .111 in the fifth set. Despite being the shorter team (we’ve heard that before), UH out-blocked UCSD (6-4) despite the Tritons coming into the match second in the conference, averaging 2.35 blocks per set. Led by their littles Tayli Ikenaga (17 digs) and Victoria Leyva (11 digs), UH out-dug UCSD 61-44 and many of those long rallies were won by the Bows. For the match, UCSD hit .183. One night later in Long Beach, The Beach scored only 24 kills (their second lowest number of the year) and hit .062 (also their second lowest of the season). While the Bows lost the blocking category 11-7, UH more than doubled up LBSU in digs (50-29). And a shout-out to the UH serve-receivers (Ikenaga, Leyva, Hakas and Alexander) that handled the tough lefty serve of Natalie Glenn as for the first time this season, Long Beach State did not record a service ace. The conference’s leading attacker by percentage (Ella Lomigora) has just two kills and hit .000 and Glenn, who average almost three and a half kills per set had just five for the match.
3 – Welcome Back Alexand(H)er. After being pulled in Set Four against UC Irvine and then not appearing against Cal State Fullerton the following match, some wondered when they’d see Alexander next in a match. Told she was available for the UC San Diego match, she did not start but came off the bench with UH trailing late in Set 1. After six kills and six errors through intermission, Alexander had arguably the two best back-to-back sets of her career to date as she went 17-0-24, helping UH force a fifth set. It was an efficient match-high 24 kill performance as Alexander hit a season-best .372. Could it get even better one night later against The Beach? Why yes, yes it could. While the number of kills were down (18) as UH only needed to play the minimum three sets, she was more efficient for the night, hitting .452. And for good measure, she added her ninth double-double of the season, career 20th as she added 10 digs. And on a nationally televised match with some family members in house for the match, that big smile of Alexander, the joy she plays with was back as she outperformed Natalie Glenn and Long Beach State.
4 – See If You Can Run It, Run It. To a different tune than Chris Browns’ hit, UH strung together lengthy scoring runs to aid its comeback victory in La Jolla. Starting with the 7-0 Tali Hakas run that helped UH grow the lead midway through the third set, it would continue with multiple runs in the fourth. Scoring natural points on their serve continued into the fourth frame with Leyva’s 4-0 run and another Hakas run, this time 6-0. As UCSD led the set 10-7, UH turned the set (and match) on its head as they closed the fourth set on an 18-2 run and took that momentum into the fifth. Alexander’s 7-0 run put UH ahead for good at 10-5, before the Bows won it 15-10 to remain a perfect 8-for-8 against the Tritons all-time. Alexander would have a couple more 6-0 scoring runs one night later against Long Beach and Jackie Matias added a 4-0 run late in the first set to help Rainbow Wahine get off to a good start. Kate Lang continued that run into the second set as her 7-0 run gave UH a commanding 7-1 run. All those scoring runs by UH held Long Beach State under 20 points in all three sets, as they fell in conference play for the first time this season.
5 – QB1 Into Top 5. Outside of bringing in Bailey Choy for a season, the first ever recruited setter that Robyn Ah Mow brought in was Kate Lang. From a few courts away, she saw Lang play and said “that’s my setter…that’s the one I want running my offense.” Taking the reins of the offense after Conference Player of the Year Norene Iosia graduated, Lang had to wait another season to wear the green and white as the Big West cancelled the 2020 season. Winning Setter of the Year in the conference as a sophomore in 2022, many felt she was the best setter again in 2023. While she didn’t win the individual award (that went to LBSU’s Zayna Meyer), she told us on the postgame show after winning the conference tournament championship against The Beach in Long Beach that she would rather have the team win that title than receive an individual award. Not expected to come back in 2024, Lang took advantage of the Covid year to provide much needed leadership for such a young squad. With all the great setters this program has seen over the years, Lang has moved into the Top 5 all-time at UH in assists. At 3,824 entering week, there is a possibility that she could catch her current Head Coach to finish third all-time at UH. But if you ask Kate, she’d say she would want one more tournament run in the NCAAs.
6 – Utter Chaos In BWC. This past Friday saw UC Davis win at previously unbeaten Cal Poly. One night later, the Aggies completed the Central Coast sweep with a victory at UC Santa Barbara. Cal State Bakersfield, after defeating UCSB at home in week one, picked up two road wins this past week, including a 4-set win at previously unbeaten UC Irvine. Throw in UH’s 2-0 road-trip, highlighted by the 3-0 sweep at Long Beach State on Saturday, there are no unbeaten teams in conference play after two weeks of play. Four matches in and there’s a six-way tie at the top of the conference standings: Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield, Hawai`i, Long Beach State, UC Davis and UC Irvine are all 3-1. With a bit more parity in the conference to start this season, the race just to qualify for the 2024 Big West Championship presented by the Hawaiian Islands surely should be an exciting one to follow.