Hawaii loses its Big West opener and maybe catalyst Caylen Alexander

A season that has been everything except normal took another drastic turn Friday night with the worst possible outcome for the Rainbow Wahine, who suffered a 21-25, 22-25, 26-24, 25-18, 15-13 loss to UC Irvine.

The Rainbow Wahine were on the verge of sending a SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 4, 671 home early, up two sets to none and leading 23-18 in the third set in search of their first sweep of the season.

Instead, the Anteaters (8-5, 2-0 ) rallied with a 7-1 run and then shocked Hawaii (6-5, 0-1) in five sets to hand UH a fourth consecutive loss in the same season for the first time since 1985.

Hunter Riedl had a match-high 21 kills and hit.415 for UC Irvine, which took advantage of the absence of Hawaii junior outside hitter Caylen Alexander, who substituted out of the match in the fourth set and did not return.

Alexander, who began the week ranked fourth in the nation averaging 4.98 kills per set, had a team-high 19 kills when she left the match with UH trailing 9-2.

Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow and players did not meet with the media after the match.

The win was just the second all-time in 47 meetings for the Anteaters against the Rainbow Wahine.

“It makes me really hopeful. We’ve had a lot of tough five-set losses to start the season, ” UC Irvine coach Ashlie Hain said. “I keep saying it’s not a loss if we keep learning from it, and I think we learned something tonight. People stepped up and I think it’s definitely a proud moment for us and makes me hopeful that we can challenge anybody and beat anybody in conference.”

Hawaii played its seventh five-set match of the season and there were nine ties in the deciding set.

Ofure Iselen and Riedl teamed up on a double block for the Anteaters to make it 12-12 after Hawaii had led 12-10.

UH called timeout and then got a point back on a UCI service error that was challenged by the Anteaters to no avail.

The next point was challenged by Hawaii when a Riedl kill was whistled down despite a pancake dig attempt from Tayli Ikenaga.

That challenge was unsuccessful, leading to the final tie of the set at 13-13.

Ella Gardiner put down a kill on the slide to give UCI match point, prompting a Hawaii timeout.

The match ended on UH’s 30th hitting error.

“I’m not sure,” Hain responded when asked how her team pulled out the win. “We had some good senior leadership. We had some seniors come off the bench and act like seniors, composed, and it took everybody. I don’t know if I’ve ever been part of a win where so many different people stepped up at different times.”

Thirteen Anteaters played in at least two sets. Gardiner, the Big West leader in blocks per set coming in, had 13 kills and three block assists.

UCI outblocked Hawaii 12-10 and had five aces to UH’s one.

Freshman middle blocker Miliana Sylvester had a career-high 16 kills and hit.333 and fellow middle Jacyn Bamis had nine kills and hit.250.

Adeyemi finished with 11 kills and seven errors and hit.131 and opposite Tali Hakas had nine kills and hit.091.

Ikenaga had a match-high 20 digs and setter Kate Lang had a match-high 50 assists, 19 digs and three block assists.

Hawaii trailed 17-15 and was in danger of dropping the first set for the eighth time in 11 matches when Sylvester keyed an 8-2 run with three kills and two blocks.

She combined with Lang on a block that promoted UC Irvine to call its second timeout trailing 23-19.

Alexander and Bamis combined on UH’s third block to get to set point and Alexander’s seventh kill eventually ended the set.

Hawaii again trailed late in the second set, falling behind 22-18 before closing with a 7-0 run to go up two sets to none.

UCI called both of its timeouts during the final seven points but couldn’t slow down Lang from behind the service line.

She continually served the Anteaters out of system and Alexander and Bamis made UCI pay, combining for five straight kills to put UH ahead 23-22.

UCI again found itself scrambling on its end and hit the final two points out to end it.

The Rainbow Wahine were on the verge of their first sweep in 14 matches dating back to the Big West tournament championship last season when the Anteaters rallied with a 7-1 run to take the third set.

UC Irvine took its last timeout down 23-19 and then scored seven of the next eight points with Alexander stuck in the back row.

An ace by Indy DeSmet and a UH hitting error gave UCI its first set point. DeSmet served the next ball out, but the Anteaters closed it out on a thunderous kill from Emma Napoleon and the 16th kill by Riedl.

Hawaii hit negative in the fourth set and.083 in the fifth.