HONOLULU — Take away the first set in each of Hawaii’s first two matches and it was an impressive opening weekend for the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team.
Hawaii once again rallied after getting blown out to start a match to claim the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic title with an 11-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-20 win over San Diego on Sunday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
Tournament most valuable player Caylen Alexander led three Rainbow Wahine with double figures in kills with 17. Sophomore Stella Adeyemi added 11 and freshman middle blocker Miliana Sylvester hit .400 with 10 kills for Hawaii (2-0), which controlled the rest of the match after another nightmarish start in front of a crowd of 4,687.
“I think right now, since we are a young team, we’re not used to a team just going, going, going at us. When that happens we just tense up,” Alexander said. “A big thing for this season is how we are going to deal with being uncomfortable.”
Hawaii struggled in every facet in the opening set with eight of its 11 points coming on Toreros errors.
UH scored only three true points and ended up with more than double as many hitting errors (seven) as kills (three), prompting head coach Robyn Ah Mow for the second time this season to take the team into the tunnel after the set was over.
The final score wasn’t as bad as the 25-7 margin from Friday’s five-set win over SMU, but it was bad enough for UH to earn a second chewing out from their head coach.
“Serve-pass game,” Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow said about why they’ve struggled in the opening set. “We picked up our passing, which made us in system more. That’s the big key.”
UH did exactly that and handled the Toreros (0-2) for the rest of the match.
Ah Mow started freshman Victoria Leyva to begin the second set togive Hawaii two back-row specialists on the court at the same time.
Leyva subbed in for Stella Adeyemi in the back row for her second turn and promptly served four straight points with an ace making it 16-9.
The run got to six straight for UH before a hitting error, which didn’t faze the Rainbow Wahine. Middles Miliana Sylvester and Jacyn Bamis had kills to help stretch the lead to 20-11 as UH evened the match at a set apiece.
Sylvester had four kills on five swings in the match and finished with 10 in 20 swings with only two errors after hitting negative on opening night.
“I was very nervous on Friday. I was crying during Hawaii Pono’i because I thought it was just so special to be on the court and not in the crowd,” Sylvester said. “But that’s out of the way and I felt much more comfortable today and I think we really emphasized the connection between the setter in the middle.”
The pin hitters took over in the third set with Alexander and Adeyemi combining for 13 of UH’s 17 kills in the set.
UH trailed 18-15 in the third when Adeyemi put down three kills during a 7-0 run that gave UH its largest lead of the set.
The Toreros cut the deficit to 23-22 before Alexander powered a kill through a double block and then hit one off the block for the final point and a 2-1 UH lead in the match.
“Just trying to aim high,” Alexander said. “Being aggressive and trying not to hit into the block but just use it.”
Hawaii trailed by as many as four points in the fourth set before again coming from behind and winning many of the points decided by longer rallies.
A 13-5 run turned a four-point deficit into an 18-14 lead with Bamis and Sylvester pounding back-to-back kills leading to a USD timeout.
Sophomore Tali Hakas, who joined the team Wednesday after missing the entire fall camp playing for her national team in Israel, ended it with her fifth kill in 13 swings. She also had a team-high 14 digs.
“I think the one big thing, again, is if the team is going to get its butts whupped in the first set like that … their fight (coming back), that’s going to be (what we need) the whole season,” Ah Mow said.
Alexander added 11 digs while Kennedy Osunsanmi led the Toreros, who lost both matches in the tournament in four sets, with 14 kills.
Hawaii will play another West Coast Conference team next week when it hosts Pepperdine on Friday and Saturday. The Waves won just one set in two losses to No. 21 USC to start the year.
