ESPN Honolulu Rainbow Wahine play-by-play voice Tiff Wells with his six biggest takeaways from the most recent week.

1 – Quoth The Ravyn. If you’re not starting, be ready to come in off the bench. Block a ball, pop a serve in, get a kill. Those are the words from Head Coach Robyn Ah Mow. Just be ready. One of the eight newcomers, sophomore Ravyn Dash hasn’t had her number called that often this season but in the seven of the nine sets that UH has played against UC Riverside this season, Dash has seen herself on the court. In the first meeting with UCR, she went for a UH career-high nine kills on 20 swings to hit .400. On Saturday with the match tied at one, the coaching staff went with the change at opposite as they put Dash in for Morghn Monahan. And with some creativity, both Cha’Lei Reid and Tyla Reese Mane hit from the right side even though they were the listed Outside Hitters. Instant offense came from No. 32 in the final two sets as Adrianna Arquette went to Dash time and time again. 15 swings over the final two sets, Dash scored eight kills and hit .467 as five UH attackers went for seven or more kills. Continue to work hard in practice, understand the scouting report and be ready when your number is called. And when Dash was summoned midway through the match on Saturday, she was ready and helped Hawai`i hit .372 (32-5-75) over the final two sets to win the match in four sets to earn another conference road-trip split.

2 – Middles Workin. When the passing is there, UH feels they have two of the top middle attackers in the Big West. Going up against the league leaders on Thursday, Miliana Sylvester went 11 of 26 with four errors and was in on four blocks. The 11 kills also matched her output from the first meeting against the Aggies. Her middle blocker counterpart Bri Gunderson wanted to atone for the four-kill performance from the first meeting against UC Davis. She did that…and then some in going for a UH career-high of 15 kills on 22 swings, hitting .636 and was in on four blocks as Hawai`i reached double-digit blocks for a seventh time this season. The off-day to travel to Riverside didn’t slow down the middles at all. Seven kills on 11 errorless swings, Sylvester hit .636 while Gunderson scores 13 kills on 30 swings with a .367 hitting percentage and was in on five blocks. In the two matches against UC Riverside this season, Gunderson went for 23 kills and eight blocks, while Sylvester scored 20 kills with six blocks. Some teams like to work their offense outside in. Hawai`i is different in that they want to get the middles going to open up the pins.

3 – TRM 1-Up. Six kills in the opening set at UC Davis paved the way for a 12-kill performance for Tyla Reese Mane. The 12 kills also established a new UH career-high for Mane and the senior was also doing work in the backrow as she recorded 10 digs for her first career double-double. With the season-ending injuries to primary passers Tali Hakas and Stella Adeyemi, Mane has worked on both her floor defense and serve-receive the last few weeks as she’s moved from the right side to the left. Offensive efficiency was the name of Mane’s game on Saturday as she 1-upped her Thursday kill performance as she set a new UH career-high of 13 kills and a .429 hitting percentage. Six digs, 15-of-16 on serve-receive and even an assist, it was all working for TRM. She didn’t miss a beat when asked to hit from the right side after Ravyn Dash was inserted as the opposite but would hit from the left side.

4 – Positives In A Loss. Meeting one against UC Davis was close for the first two sets. A five-minute intermission led to a role reversal as the Aggies outscored the Rainbow Wahine 50-25 in the final two sets to win their second consecutive match in Honolulu. All four sets in the second meeting against UC Davis were decided by five points or less. Hawai`i was right there and felt they left a lot of points on the floor. 30 hitting errors also didn’t help UH’s cause either. A 21-18 Set 3 lead couldn’t be held, two set points were unable to be converted into a set victory. What could have been a 2-1 match lead instead became the deficit. But the set loss didn’t deter the squad. They led 13-12 before a 6-0 Aggies run gave them the lead for good at 18-13. The final stats were relatively even: 56-55 in kills (advantage UCD), 6-5 in aces (advantage UH), 12-10 in blocks (advantage UCD), 73-72 in digs (advantage UH). Hawai`i held one of the best attackers in the conference (Jade Light) to a .292 percentage. Brooke Hibino, the other UCD outside had just nine kills in hitting .148 after leading all attackers in the first meeting with 15. Opposite Breeze Czapinski hit just .162 with 11 kills. UH pushed the league leaders on their home floor. While some may feel a loss is a loss and no positives can come from it, UH went toe-to-toe with the Aggies and didn’t back down. A couple of runs here and there, the result might have been different, even a fifth set could have been forced. Maybe UH sees UC Davis a third time this year?

5 – The Big Littles. All four of Head Coach Robyn Ah Mow’s littles played key roles over the weekend where UH went 1-1. 29 digs and 11 assists, Victoria Leyva continues to lead the backrow as the libero. Kahea Moriwaki had a 3-0 scoring run in Set 3 at UC Davis and then went on a 5-0 and 4-0 scoring runs in the closeout fourth set at UC Riverside. Two service aces in the frame as well capped off the birthday win for the freshman. Leilani Lopez put nine of her 11 serves in play on Saturday, but her key 4-0 run in Set 3 helped UH take a four-point that they wouldn’t relinquish en route to the 2-1 match lead. A career-high four aces on Thursday, Jaci Miyasaki continued the tough serving on Saturday in adding her eighth ace over her last three matches. A career-high 13 digs at UC Davis, the freshman added 11 more on Saturday. More impressively, she went 20-of-20 on serve receive and more often than not, was splitting the backcourt with Victoria Leyva. Not many college teams go with a two-player passing pattern. The littles continue to earn the trust of their Head Coach as we enter the final month of the regular season.

6 – Captain AA. Against UC Davis, Hawai`i had four players with 11 or more kills and at UC Riverside, three players had 13 or more kills. It’s been a little more diversified offense for UH and not just relying on one single player. When the passing has been there, Adrianna Arquette has been able to run the middles. And not just the traditional quick attack. We’ve seen slides and back 1’s. As UH came into the UC Riverside match hitting .189 on the season, the Bows would hit over .300 in three of the four sets. Despite losing the second set by 11, Hawai`i hit a respectable .242. Percentages of .362 (16-3-34) in Set 1, .311 (15-1-145) in Set 3 and .433 (17-4-30 in the closeout fourth set, the Rainbow Wahine were clicking offensively. The hitters knew when to be aggressive and when to keep the ball in play. After 30 hitting errors at UC Davis, Hawai`i had just 12 at UC Riverside. Arquette was putting up a lot of hittable balls in favorable situations for her hitters and they capitalized. Back-to-back double-doubles (44 assists and a career-high tying 17 digs at UC Davis, followed by 46 assists and 11 digs at UC Riverside) aren’t too shabby either.