Rainbow Wahine volleyball team sweeps UC Riverside on the road

Hawaii continued its domination of its women’s volleyball series with UC Riverside with a sweep of the Highlanders today in Riverside, Calif.

UH middle blocker Amber Igiede put away a match-high 11 kills and had eight blocks, and opposite Braelyn Akana added 10 kills on 13 attempts in a 25-21, 25-15, 25-15 victory at SRC Arena.

The Rainbow Wahine (13-6, 10-1 Big West) maintained their hold on first place in the conference and improved to 30-0 in the all-time series with UCR (4-17, 2-10). UH has won the past 30 sets against the Highlanders.

UH outside hitter Riley Wagoner finished with eight kills and 13 digs and posted three of UH’s six aces. Setter Kate Lang recorded her sixth double-double of the sason with 26 assists and 12 digs. Libero Tayli Ikenaga added 10 digs and UH overcame 18 attack errors in a .216 hitting performance. UH finished with 53 digs as a team to UCR’s 41.

UCR’s Isabella Scarlett had seven kills to lead the Highlanders, who hit .074 as a team with 20 errors.

UH went on an eight-point run with Wagoner on the service line and led 9-1 about 10 minutes into the match. Hitting errors helped UCR chip into the deficit and the Highlanders charged all the way back with a 7-2 run, tying the set at 19-19 on a block by Tayler Hifo and Anya Green.

After a timeout, Tiffany Westerberg’s kill was upheld after a UCR challenge and Caylen Alexander followed with an ace. Akana put away back-to-back kills to give UH set point at 24-20 and Wagoner’s third kill of the match gave UH the set.

The Wahine again took command early in the second set. Igiede had a kill and was in on three blocks in the first five points of the set and the Wahine broke out to an 8-1 lead. This time the Wahine remained firmly in control throughout the set and went to the bench to close it out. Kennedi Evans and Mylana Byrd combined on a block, and a kill from Chandler Cowell gave UH set point at 24-12.

UC Riverside took its first lead of the match early in the third set. UH broke a 7-7 tie with an 8-0 run that included three kills from Akana and an ace from Ikenaga. Wagoner extended the lead to 21-10 with her third ace of the match and she ended the night with her eighth kill.

UH will head to Northern California on Friday and close the road trip at UC Davis (9-12, 4-7) on Saturday.