UC Irvine volleyball suffered a blow on Sunday when its female volleyball team lost a heart-breaker against a Hawaii team making its first conference trip. The Blue Wahine came back from two sets down to win 3-2 (23-25, 22-25, 25-23, 25-20, 15-11) and complete a reverse sweep.
Hawaii Rainbow Wahine def. UC Irvine Anteaters 3-2
The first set was a back and forth battle until a 5-1 run by the Anteaters. Hawaii managed to claw their way back and tie it at 23, but two consecutive points at the end gave the set to UCI. Motivated to show they are better than what was shown in the opener, the Rainbow Wahine were aggressive at the start of the second and jumped to a 6-1 lead. Even though it was 17-10 at one point, the girls made UC Irvine athletics proud with a 10-3 run to tie the score at 20-20. The momentum was with the Anteaters and a pair of kills from outside hitter Loryn Carter meant the second frame was theirs as well.
Hawaii managed to recover and did not let UCI escape in the third set. Then, a 3-0 run gave them a 22-19 lead, but the Anteaters were quick to respond again, going on a 3-0 run of their own. An ace from Rika Okino broke the deadlock and two points later, the Wahine had a point on the board (1-2). UC Irvine came out determined to end the match in the fourth and went on a 5-1 run, but Hawaii erased the deficit thanks to a 7-0 run of their own. They never looked back and held off their opponent to force a decisive fifth set.
Hawaii’s reverse sweep was completed when they won five straight points to make it 12-7. UCI cut the lead to 13-11, but that was all they could do, as the Rainbow Wahine won the last two points and grabbed an inspirational victory to avoid history. Despite needing five sets to get the win, Hawaii is now 39-0 all-time against UCI.
Hawaii vs UC Irvine standout performers
McKenna Granato was Hawaii’s standout player with 24 kills – a season high. She also had five aces. Casey Castillo and McKenna Ross also broke the 10-kills barrier with 15 and 13, respectively, while setter Norine Iosia tallied 24 assists and a season-high 21 digs. On the UC Irvine volleyball roster, outside hitter Abbey Marjama and opposite hitter Harlee Kekauoha were the best performers with 15 kills each.
Hawaii and UC Irvine ranking
Hawaii is only 6-5, but remain undefeated (2-0) in the Big West Conference. They are third in the standings behind 13-1 Cal Poly (3-0) and 10-5 Long Beach State (2-0). The loss puts UC Irvine at 50% both overall (7-7) and in the conference (1-1).