ESPN Honolulu Rainbow Wahine play-by-play voice Tiff Wells with his six biggest takeaways from the previous week for the Bows
1 – Up And Down. In what has been a roller coaster type of season, that trend continued into week four of Big West Conference play for the Rainbow Wahine. A 9-5 closing run for UH to take Set 1 at Cal Poly then saw UH needing to fight off three Mustang set points before winning the frame in extra time 29-27 to take the commanding 2-0 match lead. A 20-all third set would then see the Bows score five of the final six points for their first 3-0 sweep in San Luis Obispo since 2021. Unfortunately for UH, the high of Friday just didn’t carry into Saturday down the 101 into Santa Barbara. Coming into the match hitting just .196 on the season, UCSB outhit the Bows .336 to .205 while out-blocking them 8.5 to 1. For most of the match, UH was playing from behind and when they did get a side out, they just couldn’t string together points while on serve. The Gauchos sided out off first ball contact at 70.5%. Going for their first 2-0 Central Coast road-trip since 2016, the Rainbow Wahine lost in straight sets for the first time this season as UCSB defeated the Bows for the third straight time.
2 – Ikenaga Moves Up. Senior Libero Tayli Ikenaga ascended into the Top 10 at UH in career digs on Friday night at Cal Poly. Needing just a handful of digs to enter the exclusive club, she recorded nine midway through the match as she passed Suzanne Eagye. One night later, she passed Teee Williams for ninth place all-time in digs. Sitting at 1,151 digs entering the Cal State Bakersfield match on Tuesday, she is 25 away from leapfrogging Norene Iosia for eighth-place all-time. In a season that has seen many position changes and numerous rotations, Ikenaga has been a mainstay in the libero jersey and taking control of the backrow, while providing mentorship to her fellow “little,” Victoria Leyva.
3 – Career Night In SLO for Bamis. Continuing to progress offensively, Middle Blocker Jacyn Bamis scored early and often against the Mustangs on Friday night. One week after she recorded a career-best .647 against UC Davis, this time against Cal Poly it would be a career-high in kills. Whether it was on the slide or on a middle attack, Bamis went for a career best 15 kills. And credit the UH serve receive that only gave up three aces. They passed well enough to allow the middles to have a combined 45 swings of the total 131 team attempts. It was also Bamis’ key service run early in the first set that helped to give UH momentum with a 10-5 lead to quiet the Cal Poly crowd. One night later, in the loss at UC Santa Barbara, Bamis scored nine kills on 16 swings.
4 – All-Around Hakas. The utility player for the Bows. Ask her to play right-side when she’s a more natural left-side attacker, she’ll do so with no complaints. Whatever is best for the team, Hakas will do…with a smile. Four kills on five errorless swings in the opening set at Cal Poly paved the way for a well-balanced match as the sophomore did a little bit of everything. Nine kills on 20 swings with no errors, 10 digs, four blocks and a perfect 10-of-10 on serve receive, she also had a clutch 3-0 serving run to help UH take the lead at the halfway point in the third set. With six kills on 12 swings the next night against UC Santa Barbara, she was asked to move to the left-side with UH down in the match 2-0. That all-around play on display as she was the team leader in digs with 12 for her second-straight, season ninth and career 13th double-digit dig match.
5 – Uncharacteristic Position Four Weeks In. For the first time this season, the Rainbow Wahine were swept in a match. In the three previous conference road matches, UH went 3-0 and dropped just two sets (both at UCSD, before coming from behind to win the final three sets). They were finding ways to win on the road. Uncharacteristic home losses in conference play to…UC Irvine (up 2-0) and UC Davis (led 1-0) has the Rainbow Wahine sitting in three-way tie for fourth place at 5-3 with UC Irvine and UC Davis after four weeks of conference play. The Bows are looking up at the conference standings and see UC Davis in first-place (7-1), Cal Poly and Long Beach State tied for second at 6-2. Since re-entering the Big West in the 2012 season, UH has either finished first or second at the end of the regular season. Is that streak in jeopardy? With 10 conference matches to go (five at home and five on the road), can the Bows find a way to string together wins and give themselves the same opportunity they gave themselves a year ago? Which was a bye into the semifinals of the conference tournament. Only time and other results will tell the postseason road for the Bows.
6 – Aloha `Oe BWC. News started to trickle in late last week Monday that UH would become a full-time member of the Mountain West Conference, beginning with the 2026-27 athletic season. It became official the following day that on July 1, 2026, Hawai`i would become the eighth official member of the Mountain West Conference. A member of the BWC from 1985-1995 and then again from 2012 to now, Hawai`i has the rest of the 2024 season and all of 2025 to compete as a Big West Conference member. Entering their Cal State Bakersfield match on Tuesday, per the Big West record book on their website, UH is 320-52 all-time in BWC matches and have won four consecutive BWC titles (13 overall). UH was set to host the 2026 Big West Women’s Volleyball Championship and while it remains to be seen what conference tournament hosting duties are given when they enter the Mountain West Conference play, what is on the horizon for UH once they change conferences is multiple plane rides across the western region and more time spent out of the classroom during season.