As Robyn Ah Mow has cautioned even after two wins to start the season, the Hawaii women’s volleyball team is going to experience growing pains.
Those came on Friday night as the Rainbow Wahine seemed on the verge of another roller-coaster victory only to see Pepperdine come back to steal the match in five sets, 25-15, 25-27, 21-25, 25-20, 15-11 in front of a SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4, 783.
Grace Chillingworth had a team-high 20 kills and freshman Chloe Pravednikov, who had only one kill in the Waves’ first two matches, put down the final point for Pepperdine, which avoided starting the season 0-3.
The Waves won despite playing without their leading hitter after two matches, graduate transfer Riley Simpson, who was wearing a boot on her right foot.
Hawaii, which got a match-high 23 kills from Caylen Alexander, held an 18-16 lead in the fourth set before Pepperdine closed out the set on a 9-2 run and then finished off the match.
“For me, it came down to set selection,” Ah Mow said. “If we’re diving for balls and we can’t side out, it’s set selection. Minus all of the errors we are still making, for me, it came down to set selection.”
Senior libero Tayli Ikenaga had a career-high 27 digs and Kate Lang had a match-high 41 assists for Hawaii (2-1 ), which was trying to start 3-0 for the first time since 2019.
Pepperdine outhit the Rainbow Wahine.258 to.153 and committed half as many hitting errors (18) as UH (36 ).
Alexander, who also had nine digs, faded down the stretch, with nine of her 15 hitting errors coming in the final two sets. She took 61 swings against the Waves after opening the year with 66 attacks against SMU.
“Do I think it is sustainable ? Absolutely not,” Ah Mow said. “Do I set balls? Nope. I would definitely set a different game if I was on that court.”
Birdie Hendrickson was one of three Waves in double figures with 14 kills and Pravednikov had 13 kills and hit.324 playing in Simpson’s place.
Pepperdine ran a 6-2 offense, with junior Rosemary Archer tallying 28 assists and Brynne McGhie adding 17.
“It was a heavyweight fight. (Hawaii) responded in a pretty significant and great way in Set 2,” Pepperdine coach Scott Wong said. “We changed our lineup significantly, so this is the first time we ran this lineup along with Riley being out. Riley is a really heckuva player and she had a great first weekend for us. We did it by committee.”
Both teams had 11 blocks, with Hawaii freshman Miliana Sylvester finishing with three solo blocks and six block assists.
UH again struggled early on, dropping the first set by double digits for the third time in as many matches this season.
The first set stayed competitive for nine points before Pepperdine went on a 10-1 run to take a 15-5 lead at the first media timeout.
Hawaii again struggled passing serves to start a match and had twice as many errors as kills at the first timeout.
A back-row kill from Alexander ended a 6-0 Waves run and allowed Ah Mow to bring in junior Tyla Reese Mane in the front row and run a 6-2 with Jackie Matias in the back.
Matias served four straight points during a quick 5-0 UH run to inject some life into the Hawaii side of the court before Pepperdine ran away to go up 1-0.
“We just go out there playing passive. We’re just hoping to make points,” said sophomore Tali Hakas, who had 10 kills and eight digs. “We need to start aggressive and not be hoping to make points. Just go ahead and do it.”
A Hakas error resulted in the fifth lead change in the second set as the Waves went up 22-21 without either team leading by more than two points.
A Pepperdine service error out of a Hawaii timeout tied the set at 22-all and Jacyn Bamis gave UH the lead with its first ace of the match.
Pepperdine tied it on a Chillingworth kill before Lang went with a back set placed perfectly for Hakas, who hammered down her sixth kill for a 24-23 lead.
A long rally on the first set nearly ended on an Alexander tip shot, but a pancake dig by the Waves kept the play alive and a net violation by UH tied the set again for the 13th time.
A double block gave the Waves their second set point, but Hawaii tied it up at one set apiece with Stella Adeyemi, Sylvester and Alexander putting down kills for the final three points.
Alexander had her third consecutive set of at least five kills in the third as Hawaii led by as many as seven in taking a 2-1 lead.
Hawaii was closing in on the match when the Waves suddenly caught fire and forced a fifth set, closing on a 7-1 run to tie the match at 2-2.
A service error and two hitting errors by Hawaii came during the Waves’ 5-0 run to end it after it was tied at 20-all.
