Amber Igiede leads Rainbow Wahine volleyball to sweep of West Virginia

Hawaii middle blocker Amber Igiede turned in a dominant performance at the net to lead the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team to a sweep of West Virginia tonight in the Outrigger Volleyball Challenge at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Coming off a 20-kill performance in UH’s win over Texas State on Thursday, Igiede put away 16 kills while hitting .625 and was in on nine of UH’s season-high 14.5 blocks as the Rainbow Wahine (2-3) improved to 2-0 in the tournament with the 25-19, 25-17, 25-21 win in front of a crowd of 4,049.

UH outside hitter Riley Wagoner finished with eight kills and nine digs and tied a career high with five blocks. Libero Tayli Ikenaga anchored the back row with 11 digs

The Wahine will face No. 23 UCLA for the tournament title at 5 p.m. Sunday. The Bruins swept Texas State in today’s first match.

Amber Igiede hammers kill No. 16 and @HawaiiWVB closes out a 25-19. 25-17, 25-21 sweep of West Virginia. Igiede finishes with 9 blocks. #HawaiiWVB faces No. 23 UCLA on Sunday for the Outrigger Volleyball Challenge title. @StarAdvertiser pic.twitter.com/443ETevpJF

— Jason Kaneshiro (@jasonkaneshiro) September 3, 2022

West Virginia (2-3), led by Hilo’s Reed Sunahara, ends the weekend against Texas State.

UH broke a 12-12 tie in the first set with a five-point run with Wagoner on the service line. Igiede tapped down her second block of the set and Wagoner followed with UH’s first ace of the match. The Wahine earned set point when Ikenaga popped up two digs to extend a rally that ended with a block by Igiede and Kate Lang, and a West Virginia error gave UH the set.

Igiede took over early in the second set with two kills and four blocks in UH’s 10-1 run to open the set. The Wahine led 17-5 when the Mountaineers put together a 9-2 surge, but Igiede accounted for UH’s final three kills of the set to raise her total to 10 kills in 15 attempts without an error.

West Virginia erased a five-point deficit early in the third set to catch the Wahine at 17-17 and again at 20-20. UH closed the match on a 5-1 run with Igiede in on two more blocks before hammering her 16th kill to end a rally on match point.