ESPN Honolulu Rainbow Wahine play-by-play voice Tiff Wells with his six biggest takeaways from the most recent week.
1 – One Last Big West Run. Heading into its final regular season week as a Big West Conference member, Hawai`i came in tied for sixth place with UC Irvine. With not owning the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Anteaters, the Rainbow Wahine knew they needed to have more conference wins than UCI if they wanted to pack their bags for Long Beach for the Hawaiian Islands presents the 2025 Outrigger Big West Women’s Volleyball Championships. As UH was finishing their Friday warmups ahead of their UC San Diego match, UC Santa Barbara outlasted UC Irvine in 5-sets. The Bows held a slim half-game lead in the standings. A win would give them a game lead with one to play. A 7-0 close, followed by a 4-0 close helped Hawai`i to a 2-0 match lead against UC San Diego. After a 3-all start to the fourth set, the Bows dominated, scoring 22 of the final 34 points to take the match 3-1. Entering the final day of the regular season, Hawai`i knew the simple scenario to clinch a conference tournament bid: a UC Irvine loss or a Rainbow Wahine win. And with UCI hosting Cal Poly earlier in the day, the Bows would know what was needed prior to their senior night home match against Long Beach State. An upset win for the Anteaters in straight sets gave them an 8-10 conference record. The scenario became simpler: UH had to beat LBSU if it wanted to continue the season. A very respectable .379 hitting percentage for the Bows in Set 1 wasn’t enough as they fell 25-18. With the match tied at 1, the end of the third set (service error, reception error) gave the visitors a 2-1 match lead. Backs against the wall with the season on the line, Hawai`i fell behind 7-1 early in the fourth set. It proved to be too much to overcome as for the first time since 2014, Long Beach State won in Honolulu and swept the regular season series with UH. With an 8-10 conference record, tied with UCI and losing the tiebreaker with the Anteaters, the injury plagued and roller coaster season that was Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine Volleyball in 2025 was done…before Thanksgiving and without a chance to defend their conference title as the five-time running champions. 24 completed seasons (1985-1995, 2012-2025), a 353-66 record, 14 titles and two conference tournaments will now just be a memory in the record book.
2 – On The Arm Of A Freshman. Depending on the route you take from Lā`ie to Mānoa, that drive could take anywhere from 35 to 50 miles. And we haven’t even thrown in traffic that adds to that time. Growing up, Reid was on the teraflex as a ball shagger and floor wiper. While she was recruited by other schools, the dream for Cha’Lei Reid was to stay home and play for the green and white. As stated in her November 24th Instagram post, “wearing Hawai`i across my chest and playing in the Stan…doing what I love, in the place I love…proud to represent home” meant more than going away. Entering UH as an early enrollee, the Kahuku alumna got acclimated to a full spring semester of college volleyball training while getting a head start on college classes. Her childhood dream became reality on August 29th when the true freshman heard her name announced in the starting lineup. Working alongside Stella Adeyemi and Tali Hakas, the plan was to ease Reid into the offensive flow and be a pin weapon. With season-ending injuries to both Hakas and Adeyemi, she became the main option on the pin and had to grow fast. It’s been a minute (2019, Hanna Helvig) since a freshman led this program offensively but that’s where this injury plagued season took this freshman. She led the team in kills (335), kills/set (3.35) and aces (44). The 44 service aces were the most by a Rainbow Wahine since the 48 from Norene Iosia in the 2019 season and with her season complete, the Kahuku alumna currently leads the conference in aces (44) and aces/set (.44), while among the conference’s top 10 in points (418, 4th), points/set (4.18, 4th), kills/set (7th), total kills (8th). Expect even more from 10 next season in the Green and White as she confirmed on social media this past Monday that she will #beback to #defendtherock.
3 – Mahalo To The Three Seniors. From the continent (Ladera Ranch, Calif. and Lake Oswego, Ore.) and the island (`Aiea) to Mānoa, these three joined a #Sistahhood. Bri Gunderson was an instant impact player, as seen with her eight-kill and eight-block performance in the season opener against Marquette. One of the top blockers in the nation during the 2024 season, Hawai`i knew they needed help in the middle (204 blocks in 31 matches during 2024, 1.6 blocks/set) and landed the Eastern Washington standout from the transfer portal ahead of the 2025 season. The one-and-done senior led the Bows in total blocks (115, 2nd in the Big West entering this week) and blocks per set (1.16, 2nd in the Big West entering this week) as UH improved their team numbers in 2025 (244 total blocks in 29 matches, 2.32 blocks/set). This season, UH had 10 matches where they recorded double-digit team blocks; only four times did that happen in 2024. When injuries forced the starting lineup to change, the unselfish Gunderson gave a try to playing as the opposite. After appearing in one match during 2024, Morghn Monahan almost didn’t come back for her senior season. Wanting to stay on the island after leaving HPU following the 2023 season, she enrolled at UH and opted to attend open tryouts. Height is something one cannot coach and standing at 6’3,” she became a Rainbow Wahine. Crediting her mom for always pushing her, Monahan continued to work hard in practice to push the A-side. And during matches, you always need the bench mob to provide both energy and feedback to those on the floor and that’s exactly what Monahan gave. Injuries also paved the way for Monahan’s opportunity into the lineup mid-October and made her first career start at Long Beach State. The breakout match was at UC Irvine where she scored a career-high seven kills and added two blocks and was later singled out for her positive energy and playing free during the loss. She also added a career-high five blocks in the loss at UC Davis. Never complaining about a lack of playing time, the smile and positive energy was always there. With thanks to a former Rainbow Wahine (Ashley Watanabe) and her alma mater (`Aiea), Tyla Reese Mane found the love and joy in volleyball again during the offseason ahead of the 2025 campaign by helping with summer practices for the Aiea High girls volleyball program. Attending Casper College in Wyoming for two seasons, Mane came home and redshirted in 2023. She came off the bench in 22 sets during the 2024 season. Injuries moved Mane into the starting lineup as the opposite in 2025 and lineup shuffles midseason also saw her finish the year on the left side. A solid October weekend against the Central Coast schools (10-0-29, .345 versus Cal Poly and 11-2-36, ,.346 with 3 blocks) provided the confidence that she could do this. Her first career double-double (12 kills and 10 digs at league-leading UC Davis) was followed up by a 13 kill (one error on 28 swings, hitting .429) performance at UC Riverside. Efficient at Cal Poly (seven kills on 10 swings to hit .500), her senior weekend was also efficient (8-0-19,.421 versus UC San Diego) and with a new career-high of 14 kills against Long Beach St.
4 – Senior Nights On The Island. There are senior nights…and then there are senior nights in Hawai`i. We say this yearly. No one celebrates its seniors like this state does. From the college level to the youth ranks, typically that last home game of a season is the most special. No two lei or other arrangements given are the same and along with how much love and aloha are given by the fans to the seniors, the night is truly special and one to remember. If you’ve never experienced a Hawai`i senior night, put it on your list of events to attend. For whatever reason, if you can only make one game for a sport, make it a senior night. It doesn’t matter the sport; each are special. Even with a sub-.500 season, the fans came out to show their love and appreciation for the seniors and the program. Stakes were high for the final match as a win not only meant a trip to the conference tournament, but it was also against long-time rival Long Beach State. Season-highs in both tickets issued (6741) and turnstile (5137) helped force a fourth set but couldn’t aid UH in getting to a fifth as the Bows fell to The Beach to abruptly end the season before Thanksgiving week. Many fans stayed after the final whistle to watch the festivities and say their final goodbyes to this 2025 team and its three seniors. Despite where the season went, the fans still came out. Per NCAA stats (as of games through 11/25), UH is at number three in Division I in accumulated attendance (98,666; only behind Nebraska at Wisconsin) and average attendance (5,804/match). Of the top 20 schools on this list, only Colorado St (sixth overall) and Creighton (10th) join Hawai`i as schools not in Power 4 conferences.
5 – Big West Honors. Tuesday was conference awards time and having seen all schools but UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton twice, we decided to have some fun the night before on X (follow me at @tifferspxp) and make guesses for the five major awards (Player of the Year, Setter of the Year, Libero of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year). We correctly guessed four of the five major awards (POY-Jade Light, UC Davis; SOY-Mia Starr, UC Davis; LOY-Ximena Cordero Barr, UC Davis; COY-Dan Conners, UC Davis). While Gabi Martinez of UC Santa Barbara was a fine choice for the award, we thought Long Beach State’s Logan King would be the recipient. For the first time in the 24 years of Big West competition (and thank you to the Honolulu Star Advertiser’s Billy Hull for pointing this out earlier on Wednesday), UH did not land at least one player on the all-conference first team list. A 2025 preseason all-conference pick, Bri Gunderson earned second-team honors. A two-time BWC Defensive Player of the Week winner, the senior led UH in hitting (.300) and had 10 matches with 10+ kills, including her senior night with a UH career-high of 16. Completing her first year as the setter, Adrianna Arquette was an Honorable Mention pick. Ending the year with 8.63 assists/set (BWC 4th), Arquette notched two triple-doubles (UH’s first since Norene Iosia in 2018). In her first year as the libero, Victoria Leyva also received Honorable Mention honors after a 435-dig season and a 4.14 dig/set average that is fourth highest single season average in program history. Just the fourth ever freshman to lead UH in kills since 1981 (and the first since 2019), Cha’Lei Reid received both Honorable Mention and All-Freshman accolades. 19 matches with 10+ kills, including a career-high 26 against San Jose State, the Kahuku alumna also recorded five double-doubles. A 2.43 kills/set average and hitting .288 on the year (BW 10th) led a spot on the Honorable Mention list for Mililana Sylvester. She also posted a career-high 10 blocks in the match against Texas State.
6 – Only The Bold->At The Peak. After 24 years as a Big West member, Hawai`i women’s volleyball officially said aloha to the conference after the November 16th loss to Long Beach State that ended its season. From 1985 to 1995 and then again from 2012 to 2025, UH won 14 conference titles (including five of the last six). They also won the first two Big West Conference tournament titles and prior to the 2025 season, they had finished the regular season in either first or second (or tied for second) every year since rejoining ahead of the 2012 season. Like Hawai`i, UC Davis will also leave the Big West Conference and join the Rainbow Wahine. A third team, UTEP, will leave Conference USA to also move into the Mountain West. The Bows will renew an old Western Athletic Conference tie with the Miners who have made the NCAAs the past two seasons and have a chance to make it three in a row when the bracket is revealed this Sunday. Leaving the Mountain West to join the Pac-12 are: Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State. For what it’s worth, Utah State (a team that UH lost to in the opening weekend) went 18-0 and won the league by four games. Four of those teams (USU, CSU, BSU and SDSU) made the six-team Mountain West Conference tournament and all four are into the semifinals. Wyoming (17-12, 13-5), Grand Canyon (17-13, 9-9), San Jose State (13-16, 8-10), Air Force (15-15, 7-11), UNLV (13-15, 7-11), New Mexico (13-16, 5-13) and Nevada (8-20, 4-14) will remain to form this 10-team conference. Travel will be at the forefront for UH as now all direct flights and then a drive for conference play will almost all be replaced by multiple flights and a drive to play a conference match. The Bows will aloha to the following conference locales: San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Bakersfield, Northridge, Irvine, Riverside, Long Beach, Fullerton and La Jolla and hello to: Laramie, Wyo.; Phoenix; San Jose; Colorado Springs, Colo; Las Vegas; Albuquerque, N.M.; Reno, Nev.; Davis, Calif.; and El Paso, Texas. The Rainbow Wahine will also look to do what the Rainbow Warrior Volleyball team does with conference scheduling: play a school two times in a week, either hosting them or going to their place. Not only would this move save money on travel, but it would also limit the amount of days the student-athletes are out of class. We’ve heard from multiple Big West schools (Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara, Long Beach State) that would like to keep UH on future non-conference schedules. There are two transfer portal windows in the near future: December 7-January 5 and then in the spring: May 1-15. After losing three players to graduation, the roster currently is at 14. It remains to be seen if or how many current players enter the portal. UH has officially signed two players for the 2026 season, Rachel Purser and Cameron Holcomb. We shall see come 2026 fall camp as to what the roster shapes up to be for Year 1 in the MWC.