Tiff's takeaways for UH Women's Volleyball - Week 2

By Tiff Wells

1. Stacked A Weekend

One of the terms Head Coach Joshua Walker has been using a lot here during his first year as Head Coach is “stacking.” Stacking points together to win a set…Stacking three sets together (at some point over a match) to win a match…Stacking multiple wins together over a weekend. Opening the 30th Outrigger Invitational with Utah Tech on Thursday, Hawai`i arguably played their two best sets of the season to date in taking a 2-0 match lead behind scoring runs from the serving of Leilani Lopez and Victoria Leyva. A late 5-1 closing run gave the Bows their third consecutive set victory and their first 3-0 win of the season. Friday night featured the Rainbow Wahine opening up a 2-0 match lead before holding off the Lions for a 3-2 victory. Winning two matches in a row, some may call that a winning streak. Down in the match by a set on two separate occasions against UC San Diego, the Bows raced out to an 8-3 lead in Set 5 to ultimately win 15-11 and take the match 3-2. It only took two weeks into the season for a Joshua Walker led team to stack a weekend and carry a three-match winning streak (and a 4-2 record) into the upcoming two-match series against Central Arkansas (0-5) this week this Thursday and Friday.

2. M.O. Panna

After two years at Purdue Fort Wayne, Panna Ratkai entered the transfer portal ahead of the 2025 season and chose to play for Dayton. After one season with the Flyers, she entered the transfer portal again and landed with UH in December of 2025. The senior out of Budapest, Hungary has entrenched herself as one of the two starting Outside Hitters. With Cha’lei Reid not available for the weekend due to injury, Ratkai began the Invitational with a team-high 12 kills, while adding eight digs and two solo blocks against Utah Tech. She was responsible for four of the final five points of the match. One match later, she led all attackers with 21 kills and notched her second double-double as a Bow with her 10 digs. The first half of that fifth set against LMU was nearly all Ratkai as she accounted for six of UH’s first eight points. Her 19 kills against UC San Diego meant she had double-digit kills in all three matches of the Invitational. For the Invitational, she had 52 kills (4.00 kills/set), hit .284 and averaged 4.65 points/set. After UH’s 3-0 finish, she was the right choice for Most Outstanding Player of the Outrigger Invitational. A day later, she was named the Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Week. What a weekend for the senior and a congratulations are in order for the two awards received. Or as they say in Hungarian, Gratulálok!

3. Middles Get Their Run

The Middle Blocker group has a depth chart of just three. While Marnie Ursem continues to push both Miliana Sylvester and Rachel Purser in practice, both Sylvester and Purser have been slotted in as the two starting middles for Hawai`i. As one of the tri-captains for the Rainbow Wahine, Sylvester was a major impact on both sides. 28 kills (including a season-high tying 13 against LMU) over the three days, the Junior was in on 18 blocks (including a season-high 9 against UCSD) and hit a combined .322 over the 13 sets played. For her efforts, Sylvester was named to the Outrigger Invitational’s All-Tournament Team for a second time in her career. Freshman Rachel Purser’s play over the Invitational nearly landed her a spot on the All-Tournament Team as well. The Las Vegas native scored 23 kills on 44 attacks with just two errors. Error free against both Utah Tech (5-0-7, .714) and LMU (10-0-18, .556), the freshman finished the Invitational with eight kills against UCSD. She had 11 blocks over the three days, including a career-high eight against UCSD in the win. Buoyed by the middles, Hawai`i held all three opponents under .201 (Utah Tech hit .088, LMU hit .159 and UCSD hit .201). While the passing didn’t allow the middles to be run as much on Day 3 as the coaching staff would have liked, they were productive when the ball came their way.

4. A Sunday Block Party

They had averaged just 1.8 blocks per set through the first five matches of the season. Hawai`i saved its best blocking performance for the final match of the Outrigger Invitational…and they needed all of them as they trailed in the match score by a set two different times. There were season-high numbers in blocks for Sylvester (9) and Maëli Cormier (5), while Rachel Purser (8) and Tali Hakas (7) both set career-highs in blocks. All in all, The Mānoa Roofing Company was open late on Sunday as they recorded a season-high 18.5 blocks. For the second time this season, UH recorded double-digit blocks (13 against Baylor on August 29th). Through six matches, it’s been the Middle Blocker tandem of Sylvester (30 blocks, 1.2 per set) and Purser (20 blocks, .80 per set) that is leading the way at the net. UH needed all 18.5 blocks en route to a 3-0 weekend and a tournament trophy.

5. The Big Littles

Sometimes the biggest impact(s) of a set or match can come from the smallest player(s). And for UH, all five of their “littles” each had their moments over the weekend. The constant is starting libero Victoria Leyva. 42 digs over the tournament, including a career-high tying 29 against LMU. Four of her six aces this season came over the weekend, including a pair against UCSD. She had a 6-0 run in Set 2 against Utah Tech to help extend UH’s lead. One of her aces was in a 4-0 run in Set 5 as UH pulled away from LMU. Behind the float serving of Leilani Lopez, UH scored the final five points of the opening set against Utah Tech to take the 1-0 match lead and set the tone en route to UH’s first 3-0 win of 2026. As one of the serving specialists, she recorded two aces (both against LMU) and seven digs (a season-high five against LMU). For Kāhea Moriwaki, her biggest impact came in the Friday match against LMU where she recorded a career-high 15 digs and helped UH out-dig LMU 80-66. She also added seven digs in the Utah Tech match. Jaci Miyaski’s biggest impact was against UCSD. A season-high eight digs and two service aces versus the Tritons and it was her 5-0 run that helped give UH a lead in a must win fourth set. While she didn’t play in night one of the tournament, Cameron Holcomb saw her first tournament action at 21-all in Set 4 against LMU. She provided instant production as her service ace gave UH the lead. Two nights later, she played in three sets and with a big lead in the 5th set, she came in and again…instant production. A mini 3-0 run, which included an ace, pushed Hawai`i to match point. Little by stature, big on impact and their efforts helped the Bows to a 3-0 weekend.

6. Adversity Facers & Scout Followers

Before the start of the Outrigger Invitational, UH learned that it would be without the services of Cha’lei Reid. Officially a right shoulder injury, the status of Reid continues to be day-to-day. There has been no timetable for her return but the positive is that it’s not a season-ending injury, as first reported by The Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Billy Hull. Behind Panna Ratkai (Tournament MOP) and Tali Hakas (one could make a case for her to be on the All-Tournament Team), these upperclassmen held down the Outside Hitter positions and sophomore Maëli Cormier was on the opposite. When you’re playing the second match of a tournament, your designated start time might not be accurate, especially if the first match runs late. This was the case as UC San Diego and Utah Tech went five sets, which meant the UH and LMU match would start roughly 40 minutes later. Not complaining or feeling restless about starting later than normal, Hawai`i dominated the first two sets before holding off LMU in five. Trailing 23-21 in Set 3 against Utah Tech, UH battled back to win five of the final six points to win that match 3-0. Two separate times against UCSD, the Rainbow Wahine trailed in the match score (1-0 and 2-1). Each time, the Bows came back to win that match 3-0. The blocking numbers from Utah Tech’s first weekend were impressive (2.4 per set). UH avoided the block for the most part as they were only blocked four times. The Trailblazers hit just .088 for the match. LMU came in averaging nearly 19 points per set (18.71) and a .277 hitting percentage. At the Ole Miss Invitational the week prior, each match they hit over .300. Hawai`i held the Lions to a .159 hitting percentage. Nicole Schuetz was averaging 5.4 kills/set and Maria Tabacuks was averaging 4.5 kills/set. For the match, UH held both in check as Schuetz finished with 18 (hit .196) and Tabacuks recorded 16 (hit .176). UCSD’s pin hitters were known for pushing attacks off the blocks. While that happened a couple of times early in the match, the UH blockers made the adjustments to have that not happen later on. After a season-high 21 kills two nights earlier, Ireland McNees was slowed down by UH as she recorded a season-low eight kills in hitting just .094. The extensive scouting reports prepared by the entire UH coaching staff were heeded by the entire 15-player roster and followed to a tee as Hawai`i wrapped up the second weekend of the season with a 3-0 record.