Wahine give loyal fans more volleyball for their money this season
If you’re the kind of ticket holder who tries to maximize the number of adult beverages you’re allowed to consume at University of Hawaii home games, this Hawaii women’s volleyball team is the one for you.
Nobody wants to hear complaints from someone who is paid a full-time salary to watch sporting events, but as the volleyball beat writer for the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, these first two weeks of the season have tested my ability to make a deadline.
At the same time, they have also been a lot of fun.
When Hawaii head coach Robyn Ah Mow met with the media for the first day of fall camp, she preached patience.
Patience for the players. Patience for the coaches. But really, patience for the fans.
Four straight Big West Conference championships not withstanding, this was going to be a different season for the Rainbow Wahine.
Six seniors and two transfers left the program, leaving UH with just 13 active players on the roster heading into the season.
It is the fewest number of players Ah Mow has had on a roster since she took over for Dave Shoji after the 2016 season.
It’s a low number, for sure, but it isn’t something worth complaining about.
SMU coach Sam Erger, who brought her team to Hawaii for the season-opening Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Volleyball Classic, had 14 Mustangs on her complete roster.
SMU lost to Hawaii in five, but won its next four matches, including a sweep of then-No. 2 Nebraska on Tuesday.
She felt between 14 and 16 players on a roster was the right amount.
Hawaii has dealt with slightly less than that this season, but the results have still worked out.
The Rainbow Wahine have gone five sets in three of their first four matches, but outside of dropping the final two sets in a loss to Pepperdine on Friday, UH has handled itself well in the critical points of a match.
Hawaii is 3-1 with wins over SMU, San Diego and Pepperdine, who all could hear their names called as participants in the NCAA Tournament at the start of December.
The rest of the nonconference schedule includes home matches against Texas State twice and Oregon State, with road matches at UNLV, nationally-ranked Baylor and two-time defending NCAA national champion Texas.
The Big West has a conference tournament this year for the second time since bringing it back in 2023.
Without it, Hawaii wouldn’t have made the NCAA Tournament last season, ending its streak of consecutive appearances dating back more than 30 years.
This year looks to be different as Hawaii’s three wins over the first two weekends loom large.
USD and Pepperdine will likely be the two best teams at the top of the West Coast Conference and SMU is shaping up to be a contender in its first year in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Hawaii has held its own despite playing through growing pains that have existed since Day 1.
Junior Caylen Alexander has found herself in the role of a Kim Willoughby of this year’s squad. How far Hawaii goes is based in large part to how far she takes them.
Sophomores Tali Hakas and Stella Adeyemi will also have a say in how this season defines this UH volleyball team, but one thing remains clear.
When these matches come down to a fifth set, Alexander is the one getting the majority of the sets. Fair or not, this season comes down to her.
If she can handle the pressure, UH might find itself in a comfortable position in November when it heads to Irvine, Calif., for the Big West tournament.
