Rainbow Wahine host Cal Poly in Big West showdown

Hawaii has longer, more storied women’s volleyball rivalries, but the series with Cal Poly has carried Big West title implications for the last three seasons.
The Mustangs swept the Rainbow Wahine in 2017 and went on to finish undefeated in conference play, two games ahead of UH in the final standings. The teams split their 2018 meetings and Cal Poly again edged Hawaii by a game for the conference title. Hawaii flipped the script in 2019 in placing a game ahead of the Mustangs to reclaim the title.
The Wahine and Mustangs are again at or near the top of the conference entering tonight’s meeting at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
UH (9-5, 6-0 BWC) is looking to keep pace with UC Santa Barbara, which swept UC Riverside on Friday to improve to 7-0. Cal Poly (8-10, 6-1) has swept its last four matches and can further tighten the race tonight.
Updates for tonight’s match follow below starting at 7 p.m.

Set 3
>> Cal Poly takes a 4-2 lead on a solo block by Jordan on Akana. Wagoner gets a kill off a touch for her fourth kill of the night. Lang dumps over a kill off a dig/assist by Igiede. An Igiede/Wagoner block in the middle makes it 5-4 UH. Wagoner goes down the line to cap a 4-0 run.
>> Cal Poly answers with a 3-0 surge with two kills by Jordan and a block by Amy Hiatt to take a 9-8 lead. Igiede ties it on a slide and serves up an ace to give UH a 10-9 lead.
>> Cal Poly edges ahead again and leads 13-12 on Tommi Stockham’s eight kill. After an Akana kill, Ikenaga serves into the net and Igiede hits long and Cal Poly leads 15-13 at the media timeout.
>> Igiede gets a tip to fall for her 10th kill. Cal Poly gets the serve back and ends a rally with a Jordan kill in the middle. UH challenges a net violation in the middle of the rally. The challenge is successful and UH trails 16-15 instead of 17-14.
>> Cal Poly gets sideouts to take a 19-17 lead. Martyna Leoniak entered earlier as a serving sub and returns to the front row for Akana to give UH a bigger block. A serve into the net and a back-row attack ties the set ay 19-19. Timeout Cal Poly.
>> UH blocks back Stockham, the Mustangs save it and go back to Stockham, this time the Williams/Leoniak block goes straight down to make it 20-20. Cal Poly leads 21-20 when Wagoner gets a kill off a touch. Igiede’s tip is called down, the Mustangs challenge, and it’s successful, replay the point. Jordan puts it away, Cal Poly leads 22-21. Timeout UH.
>> Stockham hits into the net, 22-22. Jordan goes into the net after her kill attempt, UH leads 23-22. Cal Poly takes its second timeout. Wagoner to serve for UH.
>> UH brings back an attempted dump by Avalon DeNecochea and Igiede puts away a kill in the middle to give UH match point at 24-22. DeNecochea wins a joust but UH challenges a net violation. The challenge is successful again and UH wins it 25-19, 25-19, 25-22 to improve to 10-5 and 7-0 in the Big West.

SET 2
>> The first seven serves result in sideouts. The eighth looks like a block by Kristina Jordan but UH challenges and a net violation is called on the Mustangs to give UH a 5-3 lead.
>> Cal Poly ties it a 8-8 and Dueck fires and ace to give the Mustangs the lead. After another tough serve, Akana hits long and Cal Poly leads 10-8.
>> UH ties it at 11-11 and 12-12 on blocks, first by Igiede/Lang then Igiede/Wagoner. Igiede gets a kill to fall and teams with Van Sickle on another block. Wagoner follows with UH first ace of the night to make it a 4-0 run and UH takes a 15-12 lead into the media timeout. Another tough serve gives UH a free ball and Van Sickle puts away a kill to cap a 5-0 run. UH leads 16-12.
>> Cal Poly closes to 16-14 on an ace, but back-to-back hitting errors gives UH an 18-14 lead. Timeout Cal Poly.
>> The Mustangs hit long again after the timeout. Kate Slack tips a kill but Williams scores on a slide and Van Sickle hammers her ninth kill to make it 21-15. Cal Poly takes its second timeout.
>> Akana blocks back a Cal Poly tip to make it 22-15 and its a 6-1 run for UH. Cal Poly ends the run and gets an ace by Taylor Rose, who gives the point back with a serve into the net. Cal Poly closes to 23-19 before Williams gets a kill off the tape to fall, set point for UH. Igiede and Wagoner combine on UH’s fifth block of the set to end it 25-19. Wahine lead the match 2-0.
>> Igiede was in on four of UH’s five blocks in the set and has eight kills in the match. Van Sickle leads UH with nine kills and has eight digs.

SET 1
>> UH opens up a 4-1 lead on a block by Braelyn Akana and Amber Igiede. Cal Poly’s Jamie Stivers, the Mustangs’ kills leader, comes up holding her left elbow. She’s looked at by the trainer and stays in the match. UH leads 6-2 after a four-point run.
>> Cal Poly answers with a 3-0 run started by a Stivers kill and a solo block on Igeide. Igiede comes back with two kills in the middle to give UH a 9-5 lead.
>> The teams trade sideouts and UH leads 14-10. Stivers gets the serve back for Cal Poly and Peyton Dueck’s jump serve forces an out of system high ball and Riley Wagoner hits it long. Cal Poly’s 3-0 run closes the gap to 14-13. Akana hammers a cross-court kill to give UH a 15-13 lead at the media timeout.
>> Kate Lang tees one up for Igiede in the middle then finds her on the slide and UH leads 18-14. Timeout Cal Poly.
>> Stivers hits into the net then sends one long to give UH a 20-14 lead. The Mustangs block Wagoner but Igiede gets it back for UH. Cal Poly’s fourth block of the set makes it 22-19. Igiede goes off the block and Skyler Williams taps down an overpass to give UH set point. A double-contact call on Cal Poly gives UH the set 25-19.
>> Van Sickle and Igiede with five kills each, three each for Williams, Wagoner and Akana.

Starters for @HawaiiWVB vs. Cal Poly: OH Brooke Van Sickle, MB Amber Igiede, OH Riley Wagoner, MB Skyler Williams, S Kate Lang, OH Braelyn Akana, L Tayli Ikenaga. @StarAdvertiser pic.twitter.com/fxsf5EtzpW

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— Jason Kaneshiro (@jasonkaneshiro) October 16, 2021