Hawaii Remains Undefeated in Conference with Sweep of UC Davis

  0 Jesse Birdsall | September 24th, 2017 | Big West, News

MATCH STATS

  • Hawaii def. UC Davis 3-0 (26-24, 25-17, 25-20)
  • Hawaii moves to 8-5 (2-0 Big West); UC Davis falls to 8-7 (0-2 Big West)
  • Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu, HI
  • Attendance: 6,216
  • Box Score

Hawaii continued its winning streak last night, securing the sixth straight win at home with a 3-0 sweep over UC Davis. The Rainbow Wahine were led offensively as usual, by Emily Maglio and McKenna Granato who notched 12 (.360) and 16 (.324) kills respectively. After a slow start, outside hitter, Casey Castillo, bounced back to record 10 kills (.308). Hawaii also outpaced UC Davis with 7 blocks, compared to their 4.

On the other side of the net, the Aggies ran a more balanced offense with Mahalia White as their offensive leader, tallying 9 kills (.200). The Aggies also received offensive contributions from Lauren Matias, Brianna Karsseboom and Kelechi Ohiri.

Hawaii will go on the road for the first time this season against Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside next week. UC Davis will host UC Irvine and CSUN at home as they look for their first conference win.

PRESS RELEASES

Courtesy of Hawaii Athletics

HONOLULU—The University of Hawai’i women’s volleyball team (8-5, 2-0 Big West) finished a strong Big West opening weekend on Saturday in the Stan Sheriff Center with a sweep over UC Davis, 26-24, 25-17, 25-20. The Bows won their sixth straight match and extended its home conference win streak to 21.

For the second straight match Hawai’i had three players with double-digit kills orchestrated by sophomore setter Norene Iosia who finished with 41 assists, two service aces, and a block.  Iosia also notched her ninth double-double of the season, including the last five straight with 11 digs.

Junior outside hitter McKenna Granato led the Rainbow Wahine in kills with 16 while tallying her fifth double-double of the season with 13 digs. She also added a service ace and two blocks (one solo). Senior middle hitter Emily Maglio got off to a slow start, but finished the match with 12 kills. She led the team with three blocks. Junior outside hitter Casey Castillo rounded out the top three in kills with 10 with four digs.

Senior libero Savanah Kahaki continues to climb in career digs. She passed the 1,200 dig recordeing a team-high 14 digs to bring her career total to 1,203. She is now only 17 digs away from tying Kanoe Kamana’o who stands at No. 6 in the UH career record books with 1,220 digs.

The ‘Bows and the Aggies battled each other closely throughout the first set, as evidenced with 15 tied scores and eight lead changes in the opening stanza. Hawai’i would hold off the Aggies to snag the opening set, 26-24.

UC Davis came out strong in the second set jumping out to a 5-1 lead. But Hawai’i would come back with the first of four tied scores at five points each. The ‘Bows slowly pulled away and the Aggies couldn’t catch up as UH took the set, 25-17.

Hawai’i led from the get-go in Set 3 and never let UC Davis threaten. Hawai’i had a five point scoring run behind Kahakai’s serving and led 23-14. But UC Davis kept fighting and would not give up that easily, scoring five straight points. But UH would seal the sweep by winning the third set, 25-20.

For the Aggies, freshman outside hitter Mahalia White led the team with nine kills. Junior middle hitter Kelechi Ohiri led in blocks with four. The Aggies finished hitting at .121 compared to the Bows .244.

The Rainbow Wahine will travel to California for their first away games of the season against Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside. The first game against Cal State Fullerton will be on September 29 at 4 p.m. HT.

Courtesy of UC Davis Athletics

HONOLULU, Hawaii — Junior libero Malia Bolko recorded 25 digs while freshman setter Paloma Bowman added another 13, but UC Davis managed only .121 hitting in falling, 26-24, 25-17, 25-20, to Hawai’i in Big West Conference women’s volleyball action at the Stan Sheriff Center Saturday night.

The Aggies fall to 8-7 for the year and 0-2 in league play. The Rainbow Wahine improves to 8-5 overall and remains unbeaten in Big West matches at 2-0.

Bolko, the conference’s two-time defending Defensive Player of the Week, accounted for almost half of her team’s 56 total digs. She had dig totals of eight, eight and nine from the first through third sets, respectively. Freshman outside hitter Mahalia White led the Aggies offensively with nine kills, while sophomore outside hitter Lauren Matias added another eight.

For Hawai’i, junior McKenna Granato led all players with 16 kills and a .324 average, while senior middle Emily Maglio added 12 kills, a .360 clip and three blocks.

UC Davis jumped out to an initial 7-5 lead in the first set, gave up four straight to fall behind by a 9-7 margin, then largely kept pace for most of the frame. The Aggies fell behind by a 20-17 deficit before three straight kills equalized to 20-20. Senior Kendra Koelsch then delivered a kill and a block assist amidst another 3-0 Hawai’i run, but UC Davis again answered with three straight to tie at 23-23. Kelechi Ohiri fought off one set point to keep the Aggies in the hunt, but a wide shot from the middle and a Granato kill down the line sealed the first set for the `Bows.

Hawai’i won the second set more decisively, despite a 5-1 Aggie start. Matias had two kills in that stretch, but UC Davis surrendered eight of the next 11 points to fall into a 10-8 hole. Koelsch posted a kill and a solo stuff in a later 5-1 run that made it 16-12 in favor of the Wahine. Matias and White put down back-to-back kills to close the gap to 16-14, but UC Davis never approached any closer than that two-point deficit.

The Wahine never trailed in the third, establishing a 9-5 lead after a pair of Aggie attacking errors. White, junior Brianna Karsseboom, Ohiri and Matias scored kills in a 4-1 comeback that brought UC Davis to within a 14-12 break, but UH responded with a 9-2 explosion to pull away to a 23-14 lead. Granato’s 16th kill established a 24-15 match point before UC Davis fought for five straight points. Ohiri accounted for three in that run, teaming with Matias and White for blocks while winning a joust. Maglio ended the Aggie comeback and finished the sweep for Hawai’i.

As a team, the Aggies dipped to .079 hitting in the second set before reducing its attack errors to just four in the third set. Meanwhile, Hawai’i hit .286 (14-4-35) in the second and .255 (19-7-47) in the third.

UC Davis begins a three-match Big West Conference homestand on Friday against UC Irvine. Match time is 7 p.m.

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