ESPN Honolulu Rainbow Wahine play-by-play voice Tiff Wells with his six biggest takeaways from the previous week for the Bows
1 – Odd Week And…2 Wins. Because of the unbalanced conference scheduling, this fifth week was the one where you play two teams just once. Visiting one team and hosting the other, UH saw themselves playing three matches in five days for the second time this season as after the Cal Poly/UC Santa Barbara roadtrip, they stayed on the road to face Cal State Bakersfield before coming home to face CSUN. UH held off the Roadrunners in Set 1, winning the frame 28-26 before never giving up the lead in the second set, taking it 25-15 for a commanding 2-0 lead. A sweep wouldn’t occur as CSUB used a 12-2 closing run to win Set 3 25-18 and it looked as if the “five settah sistahs” would be forced to another five-set match as the Roadrunners led 18-15 in the fourth. The Bows ended the match on a 10-3 closing run to pick up their ninth win in as many matches in the series against Cal State Bakersfield. Flying home on a Wednesday and with UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly coming to the island in the following week, a potential trap Sunday afternoon match against CSUN loomed for the Bows. A 14-6 lead in the opening set became a 25-22 victory but the energy and momentum was on the side of the visitors as they took a 2-1 match lead, winning Sets 2 and 3 by scores of 25-17 and 30-28. Digging deep, the Bows forced their ninth fifth-set match of the season and took a 10-8 lead into the final frame. Trailing 11-10, UH closed the set on a 5-1 extended run for the 3-2 win. UH extended their winning streak in the series to 18 against the Matadors, while remaining perfect at home against CSUN (20-0 all-time). It also gave Head Coach Robyn Ah Mow her 100th career Big West coaching win.
2 – 4K Kate. Year 50 of Rainbow Wahine Volleyball and when naming setters, they just roll off the tongue. Kamana`o, Cincerova, Ah Mow, Boyer, Uiato, Mafua, Carey, Hubbert, Iosia just to name a few. As Head Coach Robyn Ah Mow looked for her next setter to replace Norene Iosia, she saw Kate Lang playing in a club tournament and from a few courts away, she said “that’s my setter…that’s who I want running my offense.” Missing out on the 2020 season because the conference canceled the season due to the pandemic, Lang ran the offense to a conference regular season title in 2021. Against Cal State Bakersfield last Tuesday, Lang joined the 4,000 career assist club with her 52 dimes dished in that match. Adding the double-double (12 digs) and earning the match win, Lang became just the fifth UH setter with 4,000 plus career assists. Sitting at 4086 entering this week, she’s a little over 200 shy of passing Cheri Boyer and Robyn Ah Mow.
3 – Alexander Enters Exclusive Club. It started out with a 28-kill performance in the season opening victory over SMU. 2024 continues to be a special year for Caylen Alexander. Recording no fewer than 15 kills in any match she’s played in this season, it’s no question UH’s offense runs through the right arm of the Junior Hitter. A top-6 attacker in the NCAA in terms of total kills, kills per set, points and points per set, Alexander is at the top of the opposition’s scouting reports. Having to go to a fourth set at Cal State Bakersfield last Tuesday, Alexander notched a match-high 28 kills, becoming the 22nd Rainbow Wahine with 1,000 career kills. Matching it with 28 kills this past Sunday against CSUN, it marked the 12th 20+ kill match of the season for Alexander, the most in a season by a UH attacker since Emily Hartong also accomplished the feat in 2013. She passed Aneli Cubi-Otineru against CSUN and now sits at 1032 kills, placing 21st on UH’s career list. Before this upcoming weekend of matches end, she could move up two spots (20th-McKenna Granato, 1055 and 19th-Kori Pulaski-1082).
4 – Offense Through The Middle. When the All-American Amber Igiede graduated in 2023, many wondered where the offense would come from but also, who would be in the middle as the other Middle Blocker, Kennedi Evans also graduated. As the only middle blocker on the roster throughout the spring, Jacyn Bamis got numerous reps and performed well in all three spring matches. Averaging three kills per set and a .435 hitting percentage over her last seven matches, the Junior added 12 kills on 20 swings, hitting .500 as UH came from behind to beat CSUN. If the Bows can continue to get offensive production from both Bamis and her counterpart Miliana Sylvester (and also Maddie Way), it’ll continue to allow Lang to set up her pin hitters in 1 v 1 situations. Against CSUN, Stella Adeyemi took advantage of how well Bamis did through the middle as Adeyemi tied her career-high with 13 kills (13-1-29, hitting .414). Tali Hakas also tied her career-high of 12 kills.
5 – Keeping Pace For A Bye. Eight matches left before the 2024 Outrigger Big West Women’s Volleyball Championship presented by the Hawaiian Islands and UH sits in a tie for second-place with Cal Poly. The top two teams after the regular season earn a bye into the semifinal round and UH is trying to do what they did a year ago…receive a quarterfinal bye. With four teams at 6-4 in conference play, the Bows have an opportunity here at home this coming week to give themselves a little bit of breathing room near the top of the conference. Keep in mind that on Tuesday, Cal Poly travels to UC Santa Barbara for their rivalry match (Cal Poly won 3-0 earlier this season) before they head to the island for their Saturday match with UH. With UH still needing to go to league-leading UC Davis next week and to UC Irvine to end the regular season, this upcoming Week 6 could play a big role for UH if they are playing on Quarterfinal Wednesday or Semifinal Friday. But first thing’s first, the Bows must continue to win in order to qualify for the postseason.
6 – Pass…Pass…Pass. It doesn’t need to be a perfect pass every time when on serve receive; that much has been said by the coaching staff. Just provide a good enough first-ball to Kate Lang (or Jackie Matias or Adrianna Arquette) so that the setter is able to run the offense. While UH has seen their hitting percentage climb during conference play, many of their attacks have come out of system and that’s been a result of the passing. In their last 12 sets over the last three matches, UH has been aced 24 times. Every coach will tell you “we have to win the serve/pass game.” If the Bows can continue to pass good enough and side out quickly, UH could more than likely see themselves playing into the final month of 2024.
