ESPN Honolulu Rainbow Wahine play-by-play voice Tiff Wells with his six biggest takeaways from the previous week for the Bows
1 – Block Party In Mānoa. Much has been said about the lack of stuff blocking for Hawai`i this season. Averaging about 1.5 per set coming into this week, the Rainbow Wahine were facing two of the top three blocking teams in the conference (Long Beach State at 2, UC San Diego at 3) and The Beach brought in the BWC’s leading blocker per set in Kameron Bacon. After being out-blocked 11-7 in the first match, Hawai`i made the necessary adjustments in the rematch as the won the block battle, 8-5 and there were numerous soft blocks that allowed the backrow to pick up the dig as UH then transitioned to offense. Tali Hakas led the way in the blocking department, tying her season-high with four. The Beach also saw Bacon not record a block in the match. One night later against UC San Diego, their 16th and final home match and 26th overall of the season, The Mānoa Roofing Company was open for business, all match long. A season-high 13 total team blocks, including six in the closeout third set helped the Bows to their second sweep of the homestand. In the minimum six sets played during Senior Weekend, UH outblocked their two opponents 21 to 13. Jacyn Bamis recorded 10 (including a season-high 6 against UCSD), Miliana Sylvester added seven, as did Caylen Alexander.
2 – Join The Dig Parade. One of the calling cards of this program has been floor defense. Extending plays, winning the long rallies has helped UH over the years as, more often than not, they’ve been the shorter team. Not only did the ‘Bows hold the advantage in blocks on both nights, the Bows also earned the advantage in digs. Over two matches, UH out-dug their opponents 116 to 82 (65-45 vs LBSU, 51-37 against UCSD), not only in quantity, but quality as well. 35 digs by senior libero Tayli Ikenaga now puts her at 1,288 for her career, sixth-place all-time in Hawai`i history and 27 shy of tying Tara Hittle for fifth-place. After a career-high 19 digs for Hakas on Friday against LBSU, she added another 10 against UCSD. Meanwhile, Lang added 10 against Long Beach for her 13th double-double of the season, 48th of her career. UH currently leads the conference in total digs (1,651) and digs per set (15.58). The all-out defense by Hawai`i held both The Beach and the Tritons to a .109 hitting percentage and helped the Bows to two wins over the weekend as they swept the regular season series against both opponents.
3 – Lang Into Top 3. Head Coach Robyn Ah Mow first saw Kate Lang play in a tournament at the age of 15 and saw the potential for her to run the UH offense. A verbal commit later turned official with the signing of her National Letter of Intent. With the distinction of being her first recruited setter, Lang ventured 3,758 miles from Keller, Texas to Mānoa. With the 2020 season cancelled by the Big West Conference due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lang had to wait a year before she could wear the green and white. From playing under strict health and wellness protocols to limited fan capacity to full fan capacity, Lang has seen it all as she ran the offense over her four years. Welcomed back with open arms here in 2024, she joined Tayli Ikenaga in the two-player senior class that would lead a roster of just 13 and mentor reigning Gatorade Player of the Year, Adrianna Arquette. Lang preached “fight” and “patience” in a roller coaster senior season that has seen the ups (win over SMU, regular season sweep over Cal Poly, home win over UC Santa Barbara), the downs (three five-set losses and the first ever loss to UC Riverside) and everything in between (another non-conference trip to the state of Texas and playing inside UT’s Gregory Gym and later becoming the third setter in UH history with 4,000+ assists and 1,000+ digs). It was only fitting that in her final home match, Lang passed her head coach for third-place all-time in total career assists at UH. Sitting at 4,348 assists with two regular-season matches to play and a postseason, she’s nearly 300 assists away from Martina Cincerova’s 4,637 mark for second place standing.
4 – Shakas For Hakas. The productive and efficient road-trip made its way back to the island for Tali Hakas. In the Long Beach State match on Friday, where Caylen Alexander had a season-low 12 kills (four kills per set is still really good), Hakas was part of “the others” that helped UH to it’s ninth straight home win against The Beach. Ten kills on 23 errorless swings, the sophomore hit .435 and did a little bit of everything else, adding in a career-high tying four aces and season-high four blocks. Hakas also led the backrow with a career-high 19 digs. Then on senior night, she scored nine kills and hit .318, while adding two aces, ten digs and tied a career-high with six blocks. The all-around performance was just one of many great individual efforts that led to two sweeps at home as Hawai`i clinched a bid into The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2024 Outrigger Big West Women’s Volleyball Championship. When the conference weekly individual awards come out on Monday, don’t be surprised if you see Hakas receiving one of those awards.
5 – Hawai`i Senior Nights. There are senior nights. And then there are senior nights in Hawai`i. No one else celebrates their seniors better than the state of Hawai`i. From youth level through high school and into college, it’s special to attend a senior night and see the fans honor and celebrate those playing their final home game. Seeing the creativity of the lei and the signs, selfies and photographs help to remember the special day. Compartmentalizing the emotions, keeping them in check because as a senior, you want to win your final home game. As the underclassman, you’re trying to do whatever it takes to send the senior(s) out with a win in their final home game. With a new pre-match introduction video prior to the Long Beach match, a few tears were shed. 24 hours later against UC San Diego, the season-high crowd could see full emotions and more tears as Public Address Announcer Ben Kia`aina said the names Kate Lang and Tayli Ikenaga for the final time in the UH starting lineup. Two dominant 3-0 wins as only two of the six sets played saw the opponent score 20 or more points in a set (LBSU did it twice, 23 in Set 2 and 21 in Set 3) paved the way for a celebratory Senior Night. Holding the festivities post-match is the way to go and a nice touch by Hawai`i athletics as they recognized the five seniors for UC San Diego. As opposing head coaches have said in the past, it’s an honor to be the opponent for a UH senior night. Ikenaga wanted to see the team “continue stacking wins” and on senior night, they stacked wins and lei.
6a – Postseason Mode…Activate. Since the beginning of November, UH has been in postseason mode. Winners of seven of their last eight matches and aided by UC Irvine’s loss earlier in the day, Hawai`i officially clinched a bid into The Hawaiian Islands presents the 2024 Outrigger Big West Women’s Volleyball Championship. At 12-4 with two matches remaining, UH is now tied for first place with both Cal Poly and UC Davis. One week left in the regular season has three of the six spots in the conference tournament clinched (Hawai`i, Cal Poly and UC Davis). At 10-6 is Long Beach State, UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara. There is a major possibility that the host school of the conference tournament (UC Irvine) doesn’t qualify. It’s been the #WildWildBigWest here in 2024; might the final week of the regular season be more of the same or could there actually be a week where the favorites win?
6b – New Bows On The Horizon. A bonus here as National Signing Day for all sports except football took place on November 13. For UH, nothing official was announced by the school but don’t fret…if you follow social media, you knew the Rainbow Wahine were expecting their three verbal commitments to put pen to paper and make it official. Two signed on day one and sources close to the third verbal commitment say she will be part of her school’s signing day on December 4th, to coincide with the first day of the Division I football (early period) signing day. Punahou’s Kahea Moriwaki (Libero/Defensive Specialist) and Makena Biondi (Middle Blocker) of Agoura High School (Agoura Hills, Calif.) will be Rainbow Wahine beginning in the 2025 season. Kahuku’s Chalei Reid (OH), while not signing this past Wednesday with UH, did not sign with anyone else. Keep your eye on that December 4th signing day at Kahuku as the Rainbow Wahine will more than likely complete their next freshman class. At the moment, UH doesn’t expect to lose anyone to the transfer portal. With what could be a roster of 14 next year (11 returnees, 3 freshmen), there is always the transfer portal to try and add more newcomers to the roster to help add more depth.