Women’s Volleyball Begins Second Round vs. UC Riverside

MATCH #21 – UC RIVERSIDE (4-17, 3-6 Big West)
Date | Time				Saturday, Oct. 21 | 7:00 p.m. HT
Location				SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center (10,300) – Honolulu, O’ahu
Tickets				ETicketHawaii.com
Promotions				• Heineken is the sponsor on Saturday and will award great prizes during the match. Fans, please visit the sports marketing table (near Gate A) to register for a chance to win.  • Saturday is “Christmas in October” night and there will be Christmas themed festivities throughout the match. • Fans are encouraged to take selfies at the UH Holiday Selfie Booth located on the Ewa side of the SimpliFi Arena concourse. The photo booth will be open from 6:00-p.m. until the end of the first set. Please use your personal mobile device to capture the festive photos you take. Share your cool photos on social media with the hashtag #GoBows.  • Saturday is also a WHITEOUT  in conjunction with the “Christmas in October” spirit. Fans are encouraged to wear WHITE UH apparel to the match.   • An AUTOGRAPH SESSION with the Rainbow Wahine will follow Saturday’s match at Gate B.
Game Day Information				SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center Game Day Information page
Game Day Rosters				CLICK HERE (PDF)
Virtual Program				CLICK HERE
Television				Spectrum OC16 – Ch. 16 (SD) or Ch. 1016 (HD) – Scott Robbs (Play-by-Play), Chris McLachlin (Color); Ryan Kalei Tsuji, Lisa Strand, James Anastassiades
Live Stream				ESPN+ (Blacked out in Hawai’i)
Radio				ESPN Honolulu | 1420 AM / 92.7 FM | Tiff Wells (play-by-play)
Live Audio Stream				ESPNHonolulu.com  | Sideline Hawaii App
Live Stats				CLICK HERE
Game Notes				Hawai’i  |  UC Riverside
Social Media				@HawaiiWVB  | #HawaiiWVB #GoBows | @HawaiiWVB  | Facebook

HAWAI’I RAINBOW WAHINE (14-6, 7-2 Big West)Head Coach: Robyn Ah Mow (Seventh Season)
Record at UH: 122-42 
Big West Record: 86-11
 UC RIVERSIDE HIGHLANDERS (4-17, 3-6 Big West)Head Coach: Nicky Cannon (Second Season)
Record vs. UH: 30-0
Streak: UH won 30
Last meetings: Hawai’i swept UC Riverside at home, 25-17, 25-23, 25-13.Three Rainbow Wahine led UH with double-digit kills–Alexander (15), Igiede (12) and Riley Wagoner (12), while Ikenaga (17), Wagoner (11) and Talia Edmonds (11) all had 10+ digs apiece. On the road at Riverside, the ‘Bows defeated UCR, 25-21, 25-15, 25-15. Igiede had match-highs in both kills (11) and blocks (8) while Wagoner, Ikenaga and Kate Lang all notched double-digit digs.
  LAST TIME OUT…

• The Rainbow Wahine started their longest roadtrip of the season falling in five sets at UC Santa Barbara, 22-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-21, 15-13 at The Thunderdome on Friday night. Hawai’i bounced back to down Cal Poly in four, 25-18, 22-25, 25-21, 25-16 at the Mott Athletics Center and then sweep UC Davis 25-14, 25-18, 25-19 at the University Credit Union Center,
• At UCSB, four different Rainbow Wahine put down at least 13 kills and four recorded double-digit digs to lead UH, but it was not enough as the Gauchos held off the ‘Bows down the stretch for the win on Friday.
• On Saturday, after making the two hour drive up the coast to San Luis Obispo after Friday night’s game, Hawai’i bounced back with a four-set win at Cal Poly. Igiede put down a match-high 16 kills while Paula Guersching notched her second-straight match with 10+ kills, finishing with 12. In her first start of the year at libero, Tayli Ikenaga led the ‘Bows with 12 digs while Caylen Alexander made her first start at opposite and came through with a double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs to go with a pair of aces and two block assists.
• Thirteen players saw action in UH’s sweep at UC Davis with nine notching at least two kills and 11 with at least one dig. Hawai’i was led by Igiede’s 12 kills with Caylen Alexander adding nine. Kendra Ham came off the bench to play the final frame and put down five kills on seven swings for a season-high .714 hitting percentage. Tayli Ikenaga got her second straight start at libero and came up with a match-high 11 digs.

NEWS & NOTESNCAA RANKINGS ENTERING WEEK 9

• Overall, Hawai’i as a team leads the Big West in kills/set (13.57), assists/set (12.67) and digs/set (15.61).
• Individually, setter Kate Lang leads the Big West averaging 10.43 assists/set (ranked #30 in NCAA) with 730 total assists (#29 in NCAA)
• Middle blocker Amber Igiede is tops in the Big West with a .387 hitting percentage which ranks #35 in the NCAA. She also leads the league in points/set, averaging 4.56 (#29 in NCAA). Igiede is ranked #2 in the conference in kill/set (3.64) and total points (319.0)

IGIEDE THE GAME CHANGER

• Last week, Igiede surpassed UH alumna Kenyatta Lovelace to No. 16 in career kills. She enters this week with 1,191 total kills. Igiede also recorded her 100th career block solo at UC Santa Barbara.
• In the second set at UCD, Igiede became just the 16th Rainbow Wahine to record 1,200 career kills.
• She is the only Rainbow Wahine to have recorded at least a kill, a dig and a blockin all 20 of UH’s matches thus far.
• Igiede has stuffed her stat line in seven games with at least a kill, an assist, an ace, a dig and a block this season–most recently coming this past Tuesday at UC Davis.
• For her career, she has put down at least one kill in all 109 career match and has been in on at least one block in 108 our of 109 career matches played.
• Against Western Carolina at the Fight in the Fort tournament in Texas, Igiede put down a season-high 21 kills while hitting .625 in just three sets. In UH’s match vs. CSUN, she hit a season-high .722 (13-0-18).
• This past summer, Igiede trained with the nation’s elite collegiate players. She was invited to train with the U.S. Women’s National Team led by head
• Earlier this season against USC (Sept. 2), Igiede became the 21st Rainbow Wahine to record 1,000 career kills. She was the first since McKenna Granato accomplished the feat in 2018. She also is No. 6 in career blocks with 483.
• Igiede is the reigning Big West Player of the Year and the senior has earned all-Big West first team honors three times.

LANG DISHING OUT assists

• Last week at UC Santa Barbara (Oct.13), Lang registered her team-leading eighth double-double of the season with 43 assists and a career-high 22 digs.
• Lang earned Big West Setter of the Week honors a record five-straight times to start this season.
• Individually, Lang leads the league averaging 10.52 assists/set and 642 total assists.
• With Lang at the controls of the UH offense, Hawai’i leads the league and is ranked at No. 21 in the NCAA with 12.77 assists/set and 13.69 kills/set. UH is No. 2 in the BW with a .232 hitting %.
• Lang is averaging a career-best 10.36 assists/set

HAKAS PLAYING FOR SOMETHING BIGGER

• These last couple of weeks have been full of emotion and anguish for freshman pin-hitter Tali Hakas. Hakas, who was born in Uruguay but has lived in Israel with her family since she was 12 started getting messages from home UH’s home match vs. Cal State Fullerton. Hakas was recently released from the Israeli army after serving her mandatory time finishing her military career as a sergeant. She arrived in Hawai’i right before the start of two-a-days in August and made an instant impact. The high-energy player started the first nine matches, filling in at opposite. For the season, she has 70kills with 95 digs, 19 blocks and six service aces.
• For the season, Hakas has appeared in 47 sets and has 73 kills, 99 digs, and 20 total blocks.
• Hakas started the first eight matches of the season and she got a start most recently against UC Irvine.

STARTING LINE-UP SHAKE-UP

• UH started with the same lineup through the first 18 matches with the exception of Kendra Ham replacing Hakas at opposite in Match #9. Hawai’i has shaken up their starting pin-hitters tinkering to find a stable and efficient combination. Paula Guersching has taken over at outside hitter with Riley Wagoner both on the left. In UH’s most recent match at Cal Poly, Caylen Alexander took over on the right at opposite, while Tayli Ikenaga made her start of the season at libero.
• Only Igiede, Lang and Kennedi Evans have started all 20 matches. But only Igiede and Lang have played in all of UH’s 73 sets thus far.

GUERSCHING FINDING GROOVE 

• Junior transfer Paula Guersching has started five of the last six matches.
• At UCSB, she put down a UH career-high 16 kills with a .366 hit% (16-1-41). She followed that by posting 12 kills at Cal Poly.
• In the last six matches since she’s cracked the starting lineup, she has put down 52 kills while hitting .290 during that span.
• The 6-2, junior from Schwalbach am Taunus, Germany transferred to UH from Youngstown State this year after a prolific Penguin career.  The 2022 Horizon Player of the Year dominated her first two collegiate seasons at YSU. In her final year as a Penguin, Guersching finished ranked in the top five in the NCAA, finishing third with 5.24 kill/set and 5.87 points/set; fifth with 12.84 attacks/set and 576 total kills; and sixth with 646.0 total points—all of which were YSU single-season records. The-native became the fastest player in YSU history to reach 1,000 career kills finishing her two seasons with 1,006 while becoming the first YSU player to earn AVCA All-America honorable mention honors.

EVANS SOLID IN THE MIDDLE

• Senior middle Kennedi Evans has been solid playing at middle, starting all 20 matches this season after transferring from Utah last season.
• Last season, while still recovering an injury that curtailed Evans’ career at Utah, she saw limited action
• Overall, Evans has 106 kills averaging 1.47 kill/set and hitting .245. On defense she is second on the team with 61.0 total blocks. In conference action, Evans has upped her game, putting down 52 kills with a 1.73 kill/set average hitting at a .280 clip.
• At both UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara, Evans put down a career-high (for both UH and Utah) 13 kills.
• Evans has been in on at least one block in all 20 matches thus far

 ALEXANDER RISING

• After not starting at UCSD and later UCI and UCSB, sophomore pin-hitter Caylen Alexander made her return to the starting line up at Cal Poly, but at opposite replacing Ham on the rightside.
• Against the Mustangs, she recorded her seventh double-double of the season coming through with 12 kills and 10 digs while added two aces and two blocks.
• Alexander has been in on 33 total blocks this season—seven more than she had all last year when she was voted the BW Freshman of the Year
• The six-rotation pin-hitter has notched a kill, a dig, and a block in all 16 starts this season.

IKENAGA PATROLLING THE BACK

• Junior Tayli Ikenaga got her first two start at libero this season in UH’s match at Cal Poly. Leading up to the change as starting libero, Ikenaga had seen action subbing as the lib in the middle of matches beginning against Cal State Fullerton.
• Ikenaga, who was the starting libero for her first two seasons at UH,  started the final four sets at UCSB where she came up with 17 digs. She got the starting nod in the following match at Cal Poly and scooped up a team-high 12 digs with three assists and two aces. She was targeted 20 times without a serve-receive error against the Mustangs.
• At UC Davis, she had a team-high 11 digs with four assists.
• Since the UCSB match, she has recorded double-digit digs in the last three matches.