Game Day: Wahine face Aggies in tourney finale

Hawaii enters the final day of the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic looking for a bounce-back performance against Texas A&M in today’s tournament finale at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Both teams lost to Marquette and swept Fairfield over the first two days of the tournament and will meet for second place after Marquette (3-0) clinched the title. Texas A&M dropped a five-set decision to Marquette in Friday’s tournament opener and Hawaii fell in three sets to the Golden Eagles on Saturday. The first two sets went to deuce and the Wahine chopped a 10-point deficit to three late before falling short in the third.

UH has won both previous meetings with Texas A&M, most recently a s25-22, 25-19, 25-20 sweep in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament on the Aggies’ home court in College Station, Texas. Nikki Taylor led the Wahine with 14 kills while Olivia Magill had 10 kills and five blocks.

Updates to follow below.
SET 3
>> Igiede opens with a kill in the middle and teams with Leoniak for a block. Johnson pushes her 10th kill through the block and gets No. 11 off the block. Another stuff for Igiede and Leoniak. Johnson goes cross court and it’s 6-0. Timeout Aggies.
>> Kill by Austin-Roark finally ends Tayli Ikenaga’s run on the service line.
>> UH had two blocks after two sets and now has three in the third after an Igiede solo block.
>> Texas A&M closes to 10-13 on Destiny Cox’s kill on an overpass. UH holding onto the lead but the Aggies get it to 18-17 on back-to-back kills by Morgan Christon. Timeout UH. Christon goes off the block and its tied. Make it a 4-0 Christon run and the Aggies lead 19-18. Austin-Roark block gives the Aggies a two-point edge. Williams gets one through the block to end the run.
>> Leoniak goes down the line to tie it up at 20-20. Van Sickle fires an ace and UH is back ahead. Aggies kill attempt goes into the net and UH is on a 4-0 run and leads 22-20. Timeout Aggies.
>> Christon ends the UH run, but Johnson gets a kill off the tape and Van Sickle’s tip gives UH match point.
>> Texas A&M fights off the first match point and Taylor Voss serves up an ace. Timeout UH leading 24-23.
>> Who else? Van Sickle soars for her career-high 17th kill to end the 25-23, 25-21, 25-23 sweep. UH finishes second in the Hawaiian Airlines Classic.
>> Van Sickle and Igiede are named to the all-tournament team along with Lauren Davis (Texas A&M), Savannah Rennie and Hannah Vanden Berg (Marquette) and KJ Johnson (Fairfield). Marquette’s Taylor Wolf wins MVP.

SET 2
>> Van Sickle catches the Aggies off guard for a free-ball kill. Johnson puts away the next two to give UH a 3-0 lead. Texas A&M answers with a 5-0 run before a hitting error ends the run.
>> Texas A&M MB Mallory Talbert heating up with five kills in the set, Aggies lead 9-6.
>> Two Texas A&M hitting errors and kills by Johnson and Igiede fuel a 4-0 run and UH leads 13-11. Davis’ kill is ruled out. Texas A&M challenges. Call Stands, UH up 14-11. Van Sickle puts away her 10th kill and UH leads 15-11 at the media timeout.
>> Make it a 7-0 UH run when Byrd hammers a kill on the second touch. Janelle Gong serves up an ace to give UH a 19-14 lead, timeout Texas A&M.
>> Macy Carrabine gets an ace, Austin-Roark with a block in the middle and the Aggies close to 20-18.
>> Van Sickle, who was aced on the previous serve, goes down the line for her 11th kill. Skyler Williams gets payback on Austin-Roark with a solo block. UH leads 22-18.
>> Texas A&M gets a side out and an ace by Brooke Frazier to close to 22-20. Timeout UH.
>> Byrd connects with Williams in the middle, 23-20. Igiede again puts away an overpass to give UH a set point at 24-21. No touch ruled on Davis’ kill attempt that lands long. UH takes the set 25-21.
>> Van Sickle with a match-high 11 kills on 21 attempts. Johnson 9 kills on 27 swings.

SET 1
>> London Austin-Roark gets the first kill of the match. Brooke Van Sickle get her first with a tip from he backrow. Mia Johnson, a freshman from League City, Texas, goes off the hands for her third kill in four swings to give UH an 11-10 lead.
>> Johnson forces an overpass but Van Sickle’s tip is ruled out. UH challenges, call upheld. UH up 13-12.
>> Texas A&M leads 15-14 at the media timeout. Van Sickle leads with 4 kills. Aggies hitting .364 to UH’s .316.
>> Texas A&M moves ahead 16-14 and UH ties on a Van Sickle kill and Mylana Byrd ace.
>> Down 19-17, UH goes on a 3-0 run with kills by Van Sickle, Johnson and Leoniak. Timeout Texas A&M.
>> Lauren Davis ends the UH run with her third kill to tie it up but the Aggies serve long. Double contact on the Aggies gives UH a 22-20 lead.
>> Amber Igiede hammers an overpass to give UH two set points at 24-22. Texas A&M fends off the first but serves out and UH wins the set 25-23.
>> UH hits .323 to Texas A&M’s .344. Johnson hitting .571 (4-0-7), Van Sickle match high six kills.

Freshman Mia Johnson, right, will make her first start for #HawaiiWVB, joining Brooke Van Sickle, Amber Igiede, Martyna Leoniak, Skyler Williams, Mylana Byrd and Tayli Ikenaga. @StarAdvertiser pic.twitter.com/pQf51l6qCR

— Jason Kaneshiro (@jasonkaneshiro) August 30, 2021

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>> Marquette (3-0) clinches the tournament title with a 25-14, 25-23, 25-15 sweep of Fairfield (0-3). Golden Eagles middle blocker Savannah Rennie finished with 10 kills (.500) and was in on seven of Marquette’s 11 blocks. Taylor Wolf closed the weekend with eight kills in 13 swings, 17 assists and eight digs. Hope Werch added 10 kills while hitting. 421.
KJ Johnson led Fairfield for the third straight match with 12 kills in 19 attempts (.474).