ESPN Honolulu Rainbow Wahine play-by-play voice Tiff Wells with his six biggest takeaways from the most recent week.
1 – Like It…Love It…Godda Have It. Think Coldstone Creamery here. Like It: You like the way Hawai`i took to the floor against CSUN. After being swept in Northridge a month prior (including a 25-12 third set loss), the Rainbow Wahine had the rematch for 11/7 circled on their calendar. Entering the week with six matches to play and sitting at sixth place in the standings, they knew this match would go a long way in their push to qualify for the Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Women’s Volleyball Championships. They played angry, they played desperate. Focused during warmups, they played in a way where you knew the match was never in doubt. UH arguably played their best match to date. Love it: You love the way Hawai`i has been playing as of late. Winners of three-straight and five of their last seven, they’ve played more freely and with a lot more joy as they have risen up in the standings. Even counting the four-set loss at UC Davis, Hawai`i has played very well over their last six matches. The offense has hit over .232 in four of their last seven matches (three of them over .316) and the block has come alive too. Scrappy floor-defense, a backbone of this program, has begun to re-emerge as well. Godda Have It: Through the first six weeks of conference play, Hawai`i had not recorded a 2-0 week. UH knew they had to have these two wins. They needed both wins, not only to continue in boosting their confidence moving forward, but these would go a long way in helping them to qualify for the conference tournament. Hawai`i took care of business at home. With three of their final four conference matches against three of the top four teams in the standings, in addition to being a game-up in the standings on UC Irvine, UH controls their own destiny in making it to Long Beach for Thanksgiving weekend.
2 – Defense…Defense. After the Matadors went off in their first meeting against UH (season-high .316 hitting percentage, nine aces and a 13-2 block advantage), UH flipped the script in the meeting number two with CSUN. A 4-all start to the match snowballed into a 13-6 UH lead. Winning Set 1 25-11, Hawai`i made an early statement as they held CSUN to a -.026 hitting percentage. It was just a sign of things to come, not only for the rest of the match but for the entire weekend. The Matadors were limited to just 24 kills as they only hit .100 or better in just one of the three sets. Bri Gunderson led the way at the net as she was in on six of the 12 UH blocks, the 8th time this season Hawai`i has recorded ten or more blocks in a match. Victoria Leyva paced the backrow with a match-high 17 digs. The Bows won all stat categories (.316 to .027, 9-2 in aces, 55-43 in digs and 12-6 in blocks), including the most important one, the match score (3-0). A day off between matches didn’t slow down the defensive effort. For a second consecutive match, third in their last four and ninth overall, UH notched double-digit blocks with 13. Gunderson added seven, en route to Big West Defensive Player of the Week honors earlier on Monday. Cal State Bakersfield hit just .039 and even in the set they won, the Roadrunners only hit .161. Cha`Lei Reid and Miliana Sylvester each added five blocks as Adrianna Arquette chipped in four. Jaci Miyasaki tied her career-high with 13 digs as Leyva added a match-high 16 for her eighth-straight double-digit dig match. UH played seven sets on the weekend and the opponents combined to hit .033 (54-46-238). In two of those seven, opponents hit .100 or better (CSUN, Set 3 hit .100 and CSUB, Set 2, hit .161). A desperate team is a dangerous team and right now UH has been playing with more urgency as they try to finish in the top six.
3 – Middles Run Past CSUB. In meeting one against Cal State Bakersfield, it was UH’s middle tandem of Miliana Sylvester (11-1-25, .400) and Maddie Way (13-0-17, .765) that left the Roadrunners feeling as blue as the color of their home floor in the Icardo Center. The coaching staff has repeatedly said they have the two best middles in the conference (Sylvester and Bri Gunderson) with Way pushing them everyday in practice. Even as the series shifted from Bakersfield to Mānoa, UH’s middles once again dominated Cal State Bakersfield. Sylvester tied for team-high honors with 12 kills, hitting .364 with five blocks. In her two meetings with the Roadrunners, Sylvester went 23-5-47, hitting .382. With Bri Gunderson moving back into the middle, she went off for 12 kills of her own, hitting .526. For the weekend, Gunderson totaled 20 kills on 31 swings with just two errors, hitting .597. You can’t run the middles if the set isn’t there and credit goes to Big West Conference Setter of the Week Adrianna Arquette in finding her middles. But without the passing of the serve receive, the middles can’t get set. When the passing has been there and the middles can get set, their success continues to open up the opportunities for Reid, Tyla Reese Mane and Ravyn Dash.
4 – Moriwaki’s Late Serving Run. Arguably the hardest position is the serving specialist. Unsure of if or when your number is called, you must continue to stay warm and be ready at a moment’s notice. Having only served three balls in the Friday win, Punahou alumna Kahea Moriwaki saved maybe her two best serving runs of her young career for Sunday’s fourth and final set against Cal State Bakersfield. In the closeout set, she had two total service turns and put the ball in play all 11 times. She subbed in Set 4 at 7-all and when she left, UH held a 10-8 advantage. With Hawai`i maintaining an 18-13 lead, Moriwaki’s name was called again and once again, she delivered. And this time, she helped to end any Roadrunner thought of making one final comeback. Back-to-back aces and three total in her first four serves, Moriwaki also chipped in four digs, an assist and went 6-of-6 on serve-receive. Any of the four littles can go off from the service line and they each have proven that. Friday night it was Victoria Leyva and her career-high four aces. Sunday night belonged to Moriwaki and her career-high three.
5 – It’s Been A Minute. Dominant, clean, pretty volleyball. That’s what Friday night resembled when UH took it to CSUN in the rematch. UH threw the first punch, winning 25-11. Another haymaker came in Set 2 with a 15-5 closing run to win 25-15 and then the finishing shot of a 25-15 third set win. Just 89 minutes were needed in the 3-0 sweep as UH moved to 20-0 all-time versus the Matadors in Honolulu. Every phase clicked for Hawai`i. UH hit over .300 (.316) for the second straight match (hit .338 at UC Riverside) and fourth time this season. The Bows served nine aces and constantly put CSUN out-of-system. Defensively, Hawai`i outblocked the Matadors 12 to 6 and held the visitors to an .027 hitting percentage. Only once did CSUN hit above .000 (-.026, .000, .100). The match was never in doubt. UH had looked real good in their wins over Utah Valley, St. John’s and UC San Diego. But those performances were nothing like what was shown on November 7th. Everything clicked for this young group on that night.
6 – Above The Cut Line. Only six of the 11 teams make it to Long Beach for the Hawaiian Islands Presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Women’s Volleyball Championships. With two weeks left in the regular season, both UC Davis (13-1) and Cal Poly (12-2) have clinched their spots and have firm grips on the top two seeds and the Wednesday quarterfinal bye that comes with it. Tied for third at 10-4, both UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State can each punch their ticket very soon too. CSUN and Hawai`i are both tied for fifth at 7-7. With their regular season series tied at one, the Matadors have the better conference win (a 3-2 win vs LBSU) and thus for now, hold the fifth spot. Remaining for CSUN: hosting UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton, on the road against UC Davis and UC Riverside. Currently at 6-8 and a game back of both CSUN and UH, UC Irvine has CSUN and Cal State Bakersfield on the road before hosting UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. As discussed earlier, UH is at UC Santa Barbara and at Cal Poly this week before hosting UC San Diego and Long Beach State. With arguably the toughest remaining schedule of anyone in the Big West, it also allows the opportunity for UH to have the better conference win (if it can beat either UCSB or Cal Poly) should they finish tied with CSUN at the end of the regular season. The possibility is there for UH to grab the fifth or sixth spot and while it’s a bit of a reach, they are mathematically in play for both the third and four seeds. Above the cut line for now, Hawai`i just needs to continue to focus on their side of the net and limit the number of unforced errors.