Rainbow Wahine volleyball team sweeps Cal State Fullerton

Hawaii middle blocker Amber Igiede put away a match-high 14 kills and the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team opened a Big West road trip with a sweep of Cal State Fullerton today at Titan Gym in Fullerton, Calif.

UH outside hitters Caylen Alexander and Riley Wagoner added 10 kills apiece and the Rainbow Wahine (6-5, 3-0 Big West) rallied past the Titans in the first set then rolled in the next two in the 25-20, 25-15, 25-13 win.

The Wahine hit .318 as a team while holding Cal State Fullerton (8-4, 2-2) to .133 with libero Tayli Ikenaga anchoring the UH defense with 12 digs and Wagoner and setter Kate Lang contributing nine each.

Most of UH’s active roster saw action and middle blocker Kennedi Evans closed the match with an ace while making her Wahine debut.

The Rainbow Wahine remained perfect in the all-time series with Cal State Fullerton at 46-0 and continue the road trip on Saturday against Long Beach State (6-5, 1-2) at the Walter Pyramid.

Igiede hit long on her first swing of the match then put down eight of her next 10 without an error to power the Wahine in the first set. Alexander added six kills in 11 swings without and error and the Wahine hit .425 in the set.

Cal State Fullerton’s Lyla Traylor scored on her first five swings and the Titans led 11-7. Igiede rotated to the front row and sparked a 9-2 UH run with three kills and two blocks. Leading 22-20, Igiede scored on a slide then set up Alexander for a kill to give UH set point. Alexander scored again to end the set.

UH jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set with the aid of four Fullerton errors. The Wahine broke away with a 14-4 surge capped by a Lang ace that gave the Wahine set point.

UH edged out to an 8-7 lead in the third set before going on an 11-0 run with Ikenaga on the service line. Wagoner had two kills and a solo block in the run and the Wahine cleared the bench to close out the match.

Traylor led Cal State Fullerton with nine kills and UH held senior Julia Crawford, the Titans’ kills leader at 3.10 per set entering the match, to three total kills on 23 attempts.