https://hawaiiathletics.com/boxscore.aspx?path=wvball&id=26534
Short and sweet for Hawai’i and the 500 fans that were allowed to attend Friday’s Big West volleyball match at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
The 25-19, 25-7, 25-22 sweep of UC Davis lasted only 93 minutes and, after 671 days without a home crowd, the Rainbow Wahine savored every moment.
Senior hitter Brooke Van Sickle had a match-high 12 kills and all five of the team’s aces, and the Hawai’i middle attack was near flawless in winning its 12th consecutive conference home match dating to 2019. Senior middle Sky Williams put down nine kills on 15 errors swings and sophomore middle Amber Igiede had eight kills with one errors to help the Wahine hit .333 on the night.
Freshman opposite Martyna Leoniak added 10 kills and she and Williams teamed up for seven blocks to shut down the Aggies’ left-side attack. Hawai’i finished with a 9-6.5 edge in blocks, four coming during the Set 2 rout.
The Wahine (13-6, 10-1) remained tied for the Big West lead with UC Santa Barbara (14-9, 10-1). The Gauchos got 23 kills from freshman Michelle Ohbobete when surviving in five sets at UC Irvine earlier Friday.
“I like how the team came out and I’m happy with the win,” Wahine coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “I think the serve-pass game tonight was on our side. It always comes down to serve and pass, who can take who out of rhythm.
“Definitely the serve-and-pass game we won.”
Hawai’i warmed up for its first home fans with a “little dance party” in the locker room prior to first serve, Williams said. “It was awesome to have them back,” she said of the fans.
Williams and Leoniak teamed for four blocks in Set 2 and Van Sickle served for nine straight points, including four aces, as the Wahine rolled to a 15-3 lead. Williams had the final three kills and Hawai’i held a team to the fewest points since Oct. 20, 2018 when opening with a 25-3 win in Set 1 at Cal State Fullerton.
Right-side hitter Olivia Utterback led the Aggies (8-15, 4-8) with 11 kills. Libero Shira Lahav had 15 of Davis’ 40 digs.
Hawai’i finished with 50 digs, something that pleased Ah Mow during the post-match press conference.
Freshman setter Kate Lang had 16 of the digs to go along with 35 assists for her fifth double-double. Sophomore hitter Riley Wagoner added 10 digs.
The Wahine host UC Riverside (5-16, 1-10) Saturday at 7 p.m. The Highlanders were swept at Davis on Tuesday.
Hawai’i had just two hitting errors when hitting .481 in Set 2. Davis had just three kills in Set 2, hitting negative .115.
The Aggies rethought their game plan in Set 3, going from a modified 6-2 offense with two setters to a traditonal 5-1 with Jane Seslar running it solo. It worked … better … and Davis was able to cut the Wahine’s 19-13 lead to 21-20, the last point when Utterback and Lana Radakovic stuffed Igiede on her 17th swing.
Hawai’i held. A kill by Leoniak and a violation by Seslar made it 23-20. At 24-21, the Aggies held off one match point but not as second with Van Sickle ending it as the Wahine improved to 17-1 all-time against Davis.
Van Sickle had played in every set this season until sitting out Set 3 and 4 in last Saturday’s 3-1 win at CSUN. She said the loss to UCSB helped motivate the Wahine this week.
“The team has been really hard on defense, definitely talked about how serve-and-pass is the entire game,” said Van Sickle, in double-digit kills for the 16th time this season. “If you can’t pass a ball, you really can’t do anything.”
