Tiff's takeaways for UH Women's Volleyball - Week 6
By Tiff Wells
1. Painted The Desert Green…Twice
With the calendar turned to October, Hawai`i hit the road as arguably the last team in the country to play a true road match. While they did go to Las Vegas two weeks prior, it was a neutral site non-conference tournament that the Rainbow Wahine played host to. A preseason top three pick in the Mountain West poll, GCU welcomed UH to the desert for their first MWC conference series. If you’ve either been to a Lopes Men’s Basketball game or seen it on tv, you know the atmosphere is on another level. Around the conference, no one really knew what to think of UH in year one as Mountain West member. Toss in what happened last year and all of the offseason moves that included a brand new coaching staff, the Bows were picked to finish fifth. One thing that is for certain though is that wherever this program travels to, the fan base travels as well. That remained true with this series against the Lopes. 1425 was the announced crowd for Friday with 2561 in house for Saturday. However they made their way to the Phoenix, the UH fans showed up to support their team. From the numerous shirts that were of green or white (or both), the numerous Hawaiian flags being waved and of course, the chee hoos shouted from their fans, Global Credit Union Arena became the latest venue dubbed Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center East. The fans that showed made it feel like home for the team and they left each match happy as the Bows took both matches in the series, sweeping GCU 3-0 each night. For nearly a half hour after Saturday’s match, the Hawai`i players honored every autograph and selfie request, while receiving lei and high-fives for a job well done over the series.
2. Final Set Statement
Through the first five sets of the series, each of them was decided by no more than five points. In fact, three of them were by 25-23 set scores. Having won the first match 3-0 and comfortably in front by two sets to none on the second night, UH left zero doubt for set three. Jaci Miyasaki was ready when her name was called and provided a 6-0 serving run to give the Bows an early cushion. Adrianna Arquette also went on a 4-0 run to put the Rainbow Wahine in front 14-6. One could call her Cam the closer as freshman Cameron Holcomb served the final eight points of the set (and match) as Hawai`i dominated 25-10. The league’s most efficient offense had just six kills in the final set, hitting -.088. The low hitting percentage was in large part due to the UH block. After having just five blocks in the first match, the Rainbow Wahine had seven in the final set played of the weekend series. Miliana Sylvester led The Mānoa Roofing Company with seven blocks, while Rachel Purser and Arquette each recorded five. Taking care of business at home in Week 1 with two sweep victories over New Mexico, Hawai`i put the league on an early notice with two 3-0 road wins in the desert as UH has won each of their first four conference matches in a variety of ways. The Lopes didn’t hit over .200 in either match as they’ve now lost five of their last seven matches. Hawai`i fans know how hard it is to win on the road, no matter the location. Conference wins are hard to acquire and in getting two 3-0 road wins in their first true road-trip, UH made a great first impression while playing in a hostile environment.
3. Whole Is Greater Than Sum Of Parts
Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle said it best with his famous phrase, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” That phrase could also be used to describe this most recent series with GCU. Starr Williams is one of the top hitters in the Mountain West, coming into the UH series ranked in MW’s top five in terms of kills per set (3.25). While she did go off on both nights to be the leading kill getter (13 on Friday, 17 on Saturday), the efficiency wasn’t really there. 37 swings on Friday, she hit .216 and hit .200 on Saturday with 40 swings. The low hitting percentage was in large part due to a disciplined UH block that either stuff blocked Williams, got block touches on her swings or forced her into hitting the ball out-of-bounds completely. In the six sets played, she had 14 hitting errors. As a three-rotation front row hitter, the Lopes struggled to score points when she rotated to the backrow and was subsequently subbed out. No GCU hitter had more than six kills on night one and no more than five on the second night. With UH serving for the first set on night two, UH knew the ball was going to Williams on the left side and the blocking tandem of Arquette and Purser were ready and got the walk-off block to win Set 1. Panna Ratkai (14 kills) and Miliana Sylvester (11 kills) led UH offensively in the first match, while night two featured Tali Hakas (14 kills), Sylvester (8 kills) and Ratkai (7) pacing the Hawai`i offense. The Bows were also helped out on night two with their impressive 14-block performance. When you work together or combine elements, it creates a result that no single part could achieve alone. The Bows did that twice…and picked up two conference road wins in the process.
4. UH Is Hard To Gameplan For
The number one outside hitter for the Rainbow Wahine is Panna Ratkai. The stats back it up as she leads the way in kills/set (3.49), aces (25) and scoring almost four points/set. When looking at an opponent’s scouting report when they play Hawai`i, No. 22 is at the top of players to slow down. GCU did their best on night one to slow down Ratkai and while she did lead the way with 14 kills, she hit just .157. She didn’t let that affect her overall game as she picked up two aces and added 11 digs for her sixth double-double of the season. Sylvester went 11-2-17 to hit .529 as she dominated the middle. A ball that may normally fall against another team doesn’t against UH. The Bows out-dug the Lopes 66-61 in night one, including a 30-dig effort in that final set. Also give credit to Maëli Cormier as she was efficient on night one with three kills on five swings and added two blocks. As Tali Hakas scored just three kills in the first match, the floor captain made the adjustments ahead of night two as she paced UH with 14 kills to hit .387 with just two errors. Ratkai only had seven kills, but it came on 19 errorless swings to hit .368. Sylvester stayed constant with her offensive production as she went for eight kills on 15 swings and added seven blocks. Pick your poison if you’re the opponent…slow down one person, someone else picks it up to lead the way. The success of the team so far has been due to its unselfishness as they celebrate the success of everyone with no one worried about getting their stats.
5. Defense > Offense
Attributed to legendary Alabama football coach Bear Bryant, the six-time National Championship reportedly said, “Offense sells tickets. Defense wins championships.” While the Rainbow Wahine have averaged 5,440 over their first ten home matches this season, a main reason as to why this team is off to its best start since 2019 has been the overall defense. Much was said ahead of this series that featured the most efficient MW offense (GCU came in hitting .257) hosting a team that came in holding opponents to a .149 hitting percentage. That .149 tops all Mountain West teams and was sixth nationally. Despite UH being out-hit .179 to .165 on night one, the Bows were cleaner from the service line (six aces, eight errors…GCU had three aces and 12 errors, including 11 in the first two sets). Night one also saw the Lopes hit below .200 in both sets 2 (.188) and 3 (.115). More of the same in the second match as the Bows held GCU to a season low .144. In the six sets of this series, the Lopes hit .162. It also marked the 11th and 12th times this season where UH held their opponent to under a .200 hitting percentage. It’s a suffocating defense that doesn’t give up easy points and a disciplined block that forces the hitter into lanes where a digger is perfectly placed. While it’s way too early to say if this defense will lead this team to a championship, the calling card for this group has been its overall defense and is a main reason why they are tied for first in the league with UC Davis at 4-0 and riding a 12-3 overall record into Week 7 of the season.
6. #MW Debutants Atop Early – At the end of the 2025-26 athletic season, five Mountain West Conference schools left to join the Pac-12: Utah State, Colorado State, Boise State, San Diego State and Fresno State. Four of those six (Utah State, Colorado State, Boise State and San Diego State) made the six-team conference tournament in their final year with the MWC. As those five departed, three new schools (UC Davis, Hawai`i and UTEP) were announced as the newest members and the conference preseason poll gave a lot of respect to these new schools as all three were in the top five (1st-UTEP, 2nd-UC Davis and 5th-Hawai`i). Two weeks into conference play, only two teams remain unbeaten at 4-0: Hawai`i and UC Davis. UH hasn’t dropped a set in conference play; the Aggies have lost four sets in their wins at UNLV and against Air Force. UTEP is a game back at 3-1, having won both matches at altitude in Wyoming before a split at home against UNLV. Hawai`i travels to Davis to end October and heads to El Paso to take on UTEP in the regular season series finale. With each team having played 22% of their conference matches, the three new Mountain West schools have gone a combined 11-1 and sit at 1-2-3 in the standings. Will they all be in Las Vegas for the conference tournament? Only time will tell.