By Tiff Wells

A dream weekend would become reality. The late Dr. Donnis Thompson, then head of the women’s athletics program at UH, “wanted local people to have a chance to see the women’s volleyball team perform.” She wanted to take this UH product and showcase it to the entire state. What she envisioned would take a miracle. She wanted to fill the largest indoor arena in the state (Blaisdell Arena) with paying fans to watch an unknown women’s team play. Just two days earlier, UH would rent out Blaisdell. 7,813 tickets were sold to make it a sellout. Yes UH would lose the match to UCLA, but fans saw how exciting and dynamic their game was. UH would see that this young program could not only be profitable, but more importantly to bring in funding for the athletic program. On this day, the third and final match versus UCLA of the weekend, the Rainbow Wahine would record their first ever win over the Bruins (8-15, 15-10, 9-15, 15-12, 15-3). For more on this historical weekend, please watch the documentary: Rise of the Wahine, Champions of Title IX.