HONOLULU—The University of Hawai’I women’s volleyball (8-4, 1-0 Big West) opened the 2023 Big West season with its third-straight sweep, defeating Cal State Bakersfield, 25-8, 25-20, 25-19. Amber Igiede led the way putting down match-highs of 12 kills and five blocks—including a pair of block solos on Friday night at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
Igiede hit .440 with just one error in 25 attacks. She also added five digs to pass the 300 career dig mark. Caylen Alexander finished a dig shy of a double-double with nine kills and nine digs with a block and an ace.
Reigning Big West Setter of the Week, Kate Lang, dished out 29 assists with a .426 set percentage while helping to direct the ‘Bows to a .323 hitting percentage—its third .300+ match of the season. On the flipside, the UH defense held the Roadrunners to a .094 hitting percentage for the match.
Hawai’I shot out of the gate fast, scoring the first five-straight points to start the matchand they never let up. UH scored another five-consecutive points to extend their lead to 14-4. UH kept their foot on the gas to finish the set going away, scoring the last eight-consecutive points. Ham serving the second point of the run and Jackie Matias serving the final six starting off with her first career service ace. Igiede put down seven kills in the first frame alone to set the pace. UH won the set, 25-8, the most lopsided set win since UH defeated UC Davis in 2021, 25-8.
The Roadrunners took their first lead of the match at 5-4 in Set 2, but UH responded with a 5-to-1 run and slowly pulled away to capture Set 2, 25-20.
A 10-to-1 UH scoring run gave UH a 10-point advantage. But Bakersfield did not stop fighting, scoring six straight to cut their deficit to four points, trailing 13-17. But Hawai’i would hold off the ‘Runners to seal the sweep, taking Set 3, 25-19.
The win was the quickest home match of the season, taking a little more than 90 minutes as UH’s defense recorded season-lows of an .094 hitting % and 26 kills.
Twelve Rainbow Wahine saw action in the match—the most for a match this season—including true freshman Stella Adeymi, who made her first collegiate appearance, putting down four kills with no errors. Her first collegiate kill came off a diving dig-kill off some pinball action.
For the sixth time this season, and third-straight match, UH out-blocked their opponents, 6.0-to-.2.0. Hawai’i sided out at a 67% clip, while Bakersfield with 42%, including 14% in Set 1. The Roadrunners were led by Breklyn Pulling’s nine kills while Grace Moss scooped up a match-high 14 digs.
The Rainbow Wahine will return the court on Sunday, Sept. 24th at an earlier than usual start time of 4:00 p.m. HT at the SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
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