By: ESPN Honolulu Rainbow Wahine play-by-play voice, Tiff Wells

1 – Rainbow Shuffle…Again? 13 matches into the season and there’s hardly been any time to have a starting seven gel and work together consistently. Injuries to the pin hitters have forced both position changes for some and backups into the main rotation. With this modified 6-2 offense, the opposite position is now filled by two players (Bri Gunderson in the front row and Audrey Hollis in the back row, with Adrianna Arquette playing all the way around). Gunderson did see a little time experimenting with hitting some from the right-side during fall camp but no one could have imagined that experiment would now become a reality with all of these injuries, just five weeks into the season. With Gunderson to opposite, it’s given a shot for Maddie Way to move into that second Middle Blocker position. The lower left leg injury to Cha’Lei Reid in Set 4 against UC Davis throws yet another curveball for the coaching staff as now the team will hit the road for two matches with the status of their OH-1 in question. More will be expected from Ravyn Dash and do we possibly see a third position change for Bri Gunderson with Reid’s status up in the air? Does Tyla Reese Mane come back into the rotation? Which of the three littles (Leilani Lopez, Kahea Moriwaki and Jaci Miyasaki) will come into to play backrow and for who? Time will only tell and with no bye weeks during the season, there isn’t an extra week to give more time to try things out.

2 – QB-1 of the Backrow. A new libero who’s worked with multiple primary passers this season, Victoria Leyva has had a breakout sophomore season. A career-high 29 digs in the five-set win on Friday over UC Riverside, it’s already the fourth 20-plus dig match this season for the El Paso native. Add in 17 more on Saturday against UC Davis and that’s 46 in nine sets over the first weekend of conference play. Averaging over four digs per set, Leyva has taken the position and ran with it after the graduation to Tayli Ikenaga. With losses to Outside Hitters Tali Hakas (out for the year), Stella Adeyemi (out and no official word of her return) and Cha’Lei Reid (status unknown after her lower left leg injury this past Saturday), it also means new primary passers for Leyva to work alongside with. There were times in Set 4 against UC Davis where UH was passing with just two (Leyva and Jaci Miyasaki) in the formation and they more than held their own against UC Davis (all five of UH’s reception errors came in Set 3). She passed 50 serves over the weekend and was aced just once. Who will be the Outside Hitters for this upcoming road-trip? Do either of them go all the way around or will they be subbed out in the backrow? Are there more opportunities for just two players passing on serve receive? The biggest of the littles, UH will continue to lean on Leyva for the rest of this season and even more so with all of these injuries.

3 – Triple-Double for #3. Due to necessity, Hawai`i has asked Adrianna Arquette to do a bit of everything. Hitting in the front row and setting from the back, it brings back shades of when Norene Iosia was a Rainbow Wahine. More so happy with the win, the sophomore setter/opposite made UH history this past Friday night against UC Riverside. 41 assists, 15 digs and 11 kills, Arquette recorded UH’s first triple-double since Iosia’s 14 assist/15 dig/11 kill performance against Baylor in the first-round of the 2018 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship. Even more impressive with the triple-double was the fact she hit .391 (11-2-23). We also can’t forget the walk-off service ace to give UH win number one of Big West play. A constant in the rotation and now with this influx of injuries to the pin hitters, more will be asked of offensively from the former Gatorade Hawai`i Player of the Year. The potential for more triple-doubles is on the horizon but the more important stat that Arquette wants is of that in the W column.

4 – Breakout weekend for Sylvester. When the passing was there, both Audrey Hollis and Adrianna Arquette found Miliana Sylvester time and time again. 24 kills on 40 swings with just one hitting error, the sophomore hit over .550 for the weekend. With eight blocks to her ledger, she helped UH out-block both UC Riverside (9 to 6) and UC Davis (11 to 8). Blocks were hard to come by last season but with those 11 blocks against the Aggies, it marked the fifth time this season UH recorded 10 or more blocks. With the change of personnel and the rotations looking a lot different than the first match of the season, Sylvester has now been asked to serve. Recording her first career ace on Saturday, the jump-float serve just needs to continue finding the court. Nothing fancy, just keep it in play.

5 – Show The Way. Injuries and positional changes have also allowed UH’s third middle to be given more playing time. Maddie Way had her best match as a Rainbow Wahine in the Friday win over the Highlanders. A career-high nine kills, Way hit .500 and was in on four of the nine UH blocks. The sophomore pushed both Gunderson and Sylvester throughout fall camp and was given a lot of praise from the coaching staff for her performance. Way was the spark and the reason Hawai`i scored the come-from-behind win a year ago against Oregon State and she was right in the thick of it as UH came back two separate times against UCR to earn the five-set win. If UH can pass well enough, both Sylvester and Way have shown they are offensive threats.

6. – Pray For 10. It’s been a disaster of a start to this 2025 season. UH began the year 0-4 for the first-time ever in program history. Tali Hakas left mid-match against San Diego. Diagnosed with a right shoulder injury, UH learned Hakas would be out for the rest of the season. Stella Adeyemi left the UCLA match just seven points in with a knee injury. She didn’t return for the match or for the rest of the Stanford Tournament. UH fans here in Honolulu did not see her at all this past weekend. Her status remains up in the air. Just one week later, the injury bug hit UH again. Cha’Lei Reid went down with a lower left leg injury in the early part of Set 4 against UC Davis. Needing to be helped off the court, she didn’t return to the match. Another tough blow for the program as UH has now seen its third pin hitter go down with an injury. It slows down the very productive start to the career of Reid who was top 20 in the Big West in kills, kills per set, aces, blocks per set, aces per set and points per set. The loss of player(s) can’t mean the loss of this 2025 season as others will be needed to do even more. Thoughts and prayers to Reid and wishing her the best in a road to recovery that hopefully can see her back on the floor sooner rather than later.