NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—The University of Hawai’i women’s volleyballn team’s middle blockers Kennedi Evans and Amber Igiede led UH to its fourth-straight win with a sweep at CSUN, 25-17, 25-19, 25-12. Hawai’i’s twin towers combined for 20 kills with just one error on 28 swings for a .679 hitting percentage on Friday night at the Premier America Credit Union Arena. The Rainbow Wahine (16-6, 9-2 Big West) out-hit their opponent for the eighth-straight match, .367-to-.111.
UH’s middles both put down a match-high 10 kills apiece. Evans went 10-1-15 to hit a career-high .600, while Igiede went 10-for-13 and no errors to hit a season-high .769. Both middles were tied with a match-high three blocks.
Senior outside hitter Riley Wagoner added nine kills and eight digs with an ace, while junior outside Paula Guersching finished with eight kills and just one error in 26 attacks to hit .269. Guersching finished two kills shy of her first double-double as a Rainbow Wahine as she popped up 10 digs for the second time this year. She also came up with a pair of aces and three blocks.
Junior setter Kate Lang had the offense clicking as UH hit over .300 with 12 or less errors for the third-straight match. She had 37 assists with just one error in 67 attempts for a .552 set percentage.
The first set was close early on as CSUN remaining in striking distance trailing by no more than two points thru the halfway point of the set. The fifth tie of the frame came at 15-15, but from that point, UH outscored the Matadors on an extended 10-2 run to roll, taking Set 1, 25-17. Evans led UH with six kills and Guersching added five to pace the ‘Bows.
CSUN (5-18, 3-9 BW) took their first lead of the match in the Set 2 at 4-3, but that would be their only lead of the match. With the set tied at 7-7, UH scored four-straight on three UH kills and a block to take an 11-7 lead and never looked back. Hawai’i would lead by as many as seven points and would coast to a 25-19 Set 2 win to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
As in the first set, UH led from wire-to-wire in Set 3 to seal the sweep. A five-point scoring run with Guersching serving gave UH an early 7-2 lead. It was all Hawai’i for the rest of the set. The ‘Bows finished the match on an 11-to-3 run and as a team hit .522 (13-1-23) in the third set alone. UH complete the sweep winning, 25-12.
The ‘Bows had a sideout percentage of .740 for the match, averaging over 70% in all three sets. UH had a 44-to-25 advantage in kills, had 42-to-25 assists, 42-to-30 digs, 6-to-5 in service aces and 6.0-to-4.0 in blocks. The match took just 78 minutes–which ties for the fastest match of the season, ironically also against CSUN earlier this season.
The Matadors were led by Carisa Barron and Perry Starkey who each had seven kills apiece. Kelsey Knudsen posted 10 digs and Nieko Thomas was in on three blocks.
The Rainbow Wahine will now head north to take on Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday, Oct. 28th at 1:00 p.m. HT.
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