Friday night in Fullerton, Calif., was a best-case scenario for Hawaii women’s volleyball coach Robyn Ah Mow.
Ah Mow’s team clinched a seeded bye into the semifinals of the Big West Conference Championships next week and she got to empty the bench and give some players rest in a 25-19, 25-15, 25-18 sweep of Cal State Fullerton.
Sophomore Stella Adeyemi put down a match-high 13 kills, junior middle Jacyn Bamis added 11 kills and junior outside hitter Caylen Alexander hit .278 with seven kills before she was subbed out late in the second set to get some rest for Hawaii (19-8, 13-4), which moved back into a three-way tie for first place with one match left.
The Rainbow Wahine are tied with Cal Poly and UC Davis, which play each other today.
UH owns the tiebreaker over both teams, so the worst it could finish is second place. A win over UC Irvine in today’s match beginning at 2 would give UH the No. 1 seed in the six-team conference tournament starting Wednesday in Irvine, Calif.
Hawaii won’t play until the semifinals on Friday and will fly home after playing in the Bren Events Center today. UH will compete in the same arena next week needing two wins to claim a fifth consecutive Big West Conference championship.
“That was cool. I mean, I know we weren’t up by a lot, but I was just trying to get everybody in,” Ah Mow said. “They still stayed in it. Even with all of the subs and three different setters, I think everybody was still dialed in.”
Sophomore Tali Hakas had nine kills, and all 13 players on the UH roster entered the match.
Hawaii hit .296 and had three service errors while holding the Titans (4-24, 0-18) without an ace.
Hakas had a career-high 22 digs and Tayli Ikenaga added 18.
UH didn’t take its first lead until a solo block by Adeyemi during a 4-0 run put Hawaii ahead 12-11.
The Titans jumped out to a 5-1 lead as UH’s starting middle blockers combined for three errors in their first four swings.
Hawaii regained the momentum and closed out the set hitting .317, with Adeyemi putting down six kills in 11 swings and Alexander adding five in 10 swings.
Hakas had two kills and contributed seven digs.
“The focus and energy was there,” Ah Mow said. “Just some small brain farts on our blocking, block defense stuff, but they definitely didn’t think they were just coming in here and it was going to be easy.”
UH rolled to a double-digit victory in the second set holding the Titans to a .091 hitting percentage.
Setter Kate Lang served Hawaii’s first ace of the match during a 5-1 run after UH held a 15-11 lead.
Adeyemi added four more kills in the set and Alexander had two before she was subbed out.
UH emptied the bench in the third set, with junior Morghn Monahan, a Hawaii Pacific transfer, playing for the first time this season.
Freshman middle Maddie Way, who hadn’t played since Oct. 19 at UC Santa Barbara, put down the final kill on match point and had two kills in two attempts.
Lang finished with a match-high 37 assists and two kills. Freshman Adrianna Arquette had four kills in 10 swings with two block assists in extended playing time.
“We knew that (Fullerton) was going to scramble and dig balls and stuff,” Ah Mow said. “I liked the way we came out. Some things we can do better, but happy with the win.”