The Hawaii women’s volleyball team gave its head coach every ounce of fight the Rainbow Wahine had in themselves to pull out an incredible 7-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21, 15-13 win over SMU on Friday night in the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
A crowd of 4, 857 curious to see what a revamped Hawaii volleyball team would look like this season was left speechless after a dominant opening set that had UH scrambling back into the halls of the arena after losing its most lopsided set in the rally-scoring era.
UH returned to the court and pulled off the unthinkable, coming back to win in five for the second straight season opener.
“I think it was just the fight. We got our butts whupped the first set, didn’t even make double digits, ” Ah Mow said. “Went in the tunnel, said some really nice words to everybody to get them going and I said it in some of the interviews before this game, that’s what it’s going to take for this team. They’ve got to just keep fighting.”
Caylen Alexander put down a career-high 28 kills with 11 digs and ended the match from the service line.
Her tough serve on match point was returned back on UH’s side. Setter Kate Lang, who finished with 36 assists and seven digs, set Alexander out of the back row, and she hammered a ball over the net that never found its way back onto UH’s side.
“Thank God. I was so happy, ” Alexander said. “It was so fun. Going in we all were uncertain how it was going to look, but once we started playing, I was just like, ‘We can win this, hands down.’”
Hawaii won despite getting outblocked 16-6 and hitting.090 for the match with 40 hitting errors.
Sophomore Stella Adeyemi added 10 kills and hit.286. The nine other players who took the court for UH hit.000 or worse for the match.
“It’s not an awesome situation to be in, but we’ve been in some situations like that before, ” Lang said. “I think that’s just what Wahine volleyball is as a whole. Having faith and have grit and having faith in your team that we are going to get through it.”
SMU, which hadn’t lost to Hawaii in 12 all-time meetings, returned at least six players who played 100 sets from last year’s team that advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Mustangs did whatever they wanted in the first set, hitting.647 with 12 kills in 17 attempts while Hawaii managed six kills on 29 swings with 10 errors.
Nnedi Okammor, a 6-foot-4 middle blocker, was in on four of the Mustangs’ five blocks.
Hawaii, which started freshman Miliana Sylvester at middle blocker and sophomore Tali Hakas at opposite, gave up 19 of the final 22 points in the set.
Ah Mow took the team back into the tunnel after the first set.
With the crowd chanting “Let’s go, ’Bows ” to start the second set, an SMU service error and a kill by Alexander earned a standing ovation with UH ahead 2-0.
UH looked to take a 6-1 lead on a Jacyn Bamis kill that was reviewed and eventually overturned for a net violation on the swing.
Hakas seemingly had a kill on the next point off the block, but that was also reviewed and overturned, cutting the UH lead to 5-3.
A Bamis ace gave UH a 15-13 lead at the media timeout and Alexander’s eighth kill of the second set led to SMU calling its second timeout at 20-16.
The Mustangs battled back to tie the match at 21-and 22-all, but a hitting error and a service error doomed SMU as Hawaii evened the match at one set apiece.
“As an opener, this was just a really great game to have because it showed us what we are made of and what this team can do, ” Lang said.
“The first set showed that we are a young team, ” Ah Mow added. “But I like the fight that came back after that.”
UH took a 15-13 lead at the media timeout in the third set when an Alexander serve, originally called out, was reviewed and ruled in for Hawaii’s third ace of the match.
UH used its second timeout in the third set down 22-18 and made a change at setter, bringing in sophomore Jackie Matias for the first time.
The Rainbow Wahine scored the next four points, with back-to-back Alexander kills tying the match at 22-22.
SMU called its final timeout facing set point at 24-23 and rattled off the next three points as hitting errors from Bamis and then Tyla Reese Mane on a SMU set point put the Mustangs ahead 2-1.
Hawaii closed out the fourth set scoring the final three points on an Alexander kill and two SMU hitting errors, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
UH will end the tournament on Sunday hosting San Diego.