Thursday’s Top 25
No. 7 BYU (H) def. San Francisco, 25-19, 25-15, 25-14
No. 19 Western Kentucky (H) def. Old Dominion, 25-13, 25-16, 25-14
No. 20 San Diego (H) def. Santa Clara, 25-13, 25-20, 25-23
ICYMI Wednesday’s Top 25
No. 3 Wisconsin (A) def. No. 6 Nebraska, 26-24, 25-19, 25-23
No. 5 Kentucky (A) def. No. 21 Tennessee, 25-17, 25-19, 25-19
No. 11 Minnesota (A) def. Indiana, 25-20, 25-14, 25-16
No. 12 Purdue (H) def. Northwestern, 25-16, 25-19, 25-17
Big West volleyball
At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
Friday, 7 p.m.
UC Davis (7-14, 3-7) at Hawai’i (12-6, 9-1)
Series: Hawai’i leads, 16-1
Saturday, 7 p.m.
UC Riverside (5-15, 1-9) at Hawai’i
Series: Hawai’i leads, 28-0
TV: Spectrum OC16
Radio: 1420-AM/92.7-FM
Live stats: UCD http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=360810
UCR http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=360812
Social: @HawaiiWVB
By Cindy Luis
It’s not so much a matter of adjustment as it is a matter of execution.
Hawai’i knows exactly what it needs to do to win a volleyball match. The scouting reports are there. The video is there.
But, sometimes, it isn’t enough.
Senior middle Sky Williams said as much earlier this week when explaining how the Rainbow Wahine lost their first Big West Conference match of the season last Friday at UC Santa Barbara. And it wasn’t just a loss, it, it was a rarely-close 25-16, 25-16, 25-23 sweep where Hawai’i had half as many hitting errors (21) as kills (42), were out-blocked 11.5-3 and lost for the first time in 20 conference matches dating back to 2019.
“I’m not sure what happened,” said Williams, who had five kills and no blocks, the latter for just the third time this season. “We knew what they were going to do, we knew who they were going to set. We had a brain fart and got timid.
“We just weren’t pushing back. They were the better team that night.”
There was concern about how Hawai’i would respond the following night after driving 90 miles down the 101 to CSUN.
“Honestly, I had a little bit of doubt about how we would come out after that tough loss,” Williams said. “But we knew that team (that lost at UCSB) wasn’t us and I knew we were going to come back harder. We all went back and self-reflected and knew we were going to come back and tweak and fix what we needed to do.
“Looking back on it, teams should be scared of us. I’m not going to say we needed that wake-up call but we needed that pushback. Not going to say ‘Wahine 2.0’ but we’re bringing back a new energy.”
It happened immediately for Williams. Against the Matadors, she doubled her kill output from the previous night with 10 and was in on five blocks, including two solo.
There also was new energy with two lineup substitutions, freshman opposite Martyna Leoniak making her first start since the Sept. 2 loss at Utah Valley, and freshman left-side hitter Mia Johnson, coming in for senior Brooke Van Sickle for the last two sets against CSUN.
The 6-foot-3 Leoniak, starting in place of 6-foot sophomore Braelyn Akana, responded with a career night. She had her first double-double (15 kills-10 digs), hitting .469 with five of the team’s six aces.
“What allowed ‘Leo’ to be successful was our passing,” Wahine coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “It got better at CSUN and it allowed our offense to open up.
“Brae was doing good, she had a little slump. Other people can come in and pick the team up and Martyna did that.”
As did Johnson, who hadn’t played since the Sept. 11 loss to USC. The 5-11 Johnson had four kills, an assist and a block in playing the final two sets of the 25-15, 22-25, 25-15, 25-21 victory.
Johnson replaced Van Sickle who had played in every set this season up until then. The 5-9 senior saw her streak of eight 10-plus kill matches snapped, finishing with five kills and hitting .105 at CSUN.
Williams was lined up next to Johnson in the front row and “she brought her own personality,” Williams said. “I told her, ‘Mia, they have no film on you, just hit the ball.’ “
Last Saturday’s match marked the halfway point of Big West play with Hawai’i and UC Santa Barbara tied at 9-1. The Gauchos’ lone loss was on Oct. 16 at UC Davis where the Aggies finished with a 19-6 edge in blocks in a 3-1 win.
On Tuesday, it was the Aggies’ serve that showed up at home against UC Riverside. Davis had 12 aces in the 25-18, 25-16, 25-15 sweep of the Highlanders, the Wahine’s opponent on Saturday.
While many were surprised about Davis’ win over UCSB, “I keep saying that anybody in the Big West can beat anyone,” Ah Mow said. “Whoever comes out to play, whoever comes out and competes that day, is going to win.
“I think we weren’t there mentally (at UCSB). It triggered some of the talks we’ve had about competing. It’s the ‘C’ word: ‘Compete.’ We can’t just expect to go in, play mediocre volleyball, and expect to win. We have to compete.”
Beginning with Friday’s match, Hawai’i will be doing so with fans in attendance at home for the first time this season. It has been capped at 500 fully vaccinated fans for Friday and Saturday, but it was announced on Wednesday that full capacity (10,300) will be allowed for the Wahine’s final four home matches beginning Nov. 12 against UC Irvine.
NOTE: Hawai’i opened the Big West season on the road with sweeps at UC Riverside and UC Davis. Sophomore middle Amber Igiede had a match-high 13 kills in the 25-21, 25-19, 25-16 win over the Highlanders on Sept. 23, and Van Sickle had 14 kills and 11 digs in the 25-18, 25-13, 25-19 win over the Aggies on Sept. 25.
