HONOLULU — The night began without apparent urgency for the Hawaii women’s volleyball team. It ended with a rousing senior moment for one of the program’s all-time greats.
In between, there was high drama at the Stan Sheriff Center as UH tussled with longtime rival Long Beach State with the stakes high: a No. 2 seed and first-round bye in next week’s inaugural Big West tournament.
Ultimately, there was relief from the crowd of 7,265 (8,216 tickets issued) as Amber Igiede put down her season-high 21st kill to dispatch The Beach, 25-23, 25-23, 14-25, 25-17 and touch off an emotional ceremony for herself and the team’s other five honored seniors.
It came on a quick middle-left set from Kate Lang on after a serve from senior Talia Edmonds and a dig from senior Kendra Ham.
“Just really amazing,” said Igiede, an All-American and one of only 12 players in program history to surpass 1,300 career kills. “It’s the best play it could’ve ended (on), almost like a championship match. I think that’s how it’s supposed to be every game and it was just so rewarding.”
Three-time defending league champion UH (21-8) finished tied for second with Cal Poly with a 14-4 conference record. The teams split the head-to-head season series, but because the Wahine won their matches in fewer sets, they advanced straight to Friday’s semifinal round at the Walter Pyramid. They will face the winner of Wednesday’s match between Cal Poly (20-10) and UC Davis (13-15).
Saturday’s win was huge for UH as it knocked Long Beach, the tournament host, down to the No. 4 seed. If LBSU (19-9) gets past UC Irvine (11-18) in the first round, it must face regular-season champ and No. 1 seed UC Santa Barbara (27-3) in the semifinals. The Wahine would avoid UCSB and the Beach until a theoretical championship on Saturday, when they could be playing to extend the program’s streak of 29 consecutive NCAA Tournaments in active seasons.
For the first several minutes, senior night appeared to be set up to be a big letdown. The Beach came storming out and the Rainbow Wahine were knocked back on their heels amid a 16-5 start for the visitors.
UH and LBSU exchanged a couple more points and the beach still led 18-10 when the Wahine rattled off nine straight points – eight on Ham’s serve. All told, it was a 20-7 run to take the frame.
“They just kind of fired it up and came back. It was amazing to see that fight and that’s what Hawaii volleyball is all about,” UH coach Robyn Ah Mow said.
It was The Beach’s turn to appear helpless in the moment as UH captured the set, then came back from down 21-19 to take Set 2.
While Igiede and Kennedi Evans have been a constant this year, Ah Mow has rolled with the pin hitters she has confidence in on a match-to-match basis. Sophomore Caylen Alexander, after several quiet performances, reemerged in a big way with 19 kills and nine digs. She had a left-handed solo block in the second.
Alexander, whose kill count was her highest at the SSC this year and two off her season best at TCU, said she had to give her utmost for a group of seniors that helped bring her along as a youngster from far-flung Georgia.
“I was thinking it would be selfish of me to come off the bench and not give 100%,” Alexander said. “We all knew that this is going to be a really intense game, so we had to bump up our intensity, especially since the last time we played them they swept us (Sept. 29). We had to change the narrative and go out there and play our hardest.”
Coach Tyler Hildebrand’s Beach crew regrouped to prevent the sweep with .577 hitting in the third and inject some fresh doubt in the building. Ah Mow, who held herself in check during the bad and good of Set 1, took her team into the tunnel before Set 4 and let them know in no uncertain terms what she thought of their many mistakes to that point in the night.
"I think I said, 'Let's go,' pretty much. 'We're making too many errors.' That's it. And yeah. I think that's all I can say on TV right now," she said.
“It was a very Coach Rob speech," Igiedes said, "which I think got us perfectly fired up.”
UH had its most efficient set of the night with 15 kills to five errors (.357).
For the match, LBSU outhit UH .276 to .216 thanks to nearly half the errors committed. Elise Agi led the Beach with 14 kills and just one error (.419) with nine digs and three aces.
When it was over, UH honored the Beach’s seniors, then did their own. Igiede and hitter Riley Wagoner are five-year players (four active years) and have experience playing in UH’s run to the Sweet 16 in 2019. Evans (Utah), Edmonds (Michigan State), Ham (Cal Poly) and Chandler Cowell (Saint Mary’s) transferred in along the way.
Evans supplied four kills, Ham had four aces and seven digs, Wagoner had five kills and three digs and Edmonds served out the match. Cowell, who missed the year with a knee injury, energized the bench between points.
All were emotional with members of their families. Edmonds, whose mother, Peka, is a member of the UH Hilo Vulcan Hall of Fame for helping the team to an AIAW championship in 1981, did a traditional Polynesian dance.
“We had Amber and Ri (Wagoner) for a very long time but those other ones came in and they’re a huge part, they all played different roles and each one of them grew, not just in volleyball but in life too,” Ah Mow said.
But as for Igiede, the irrepressible force in the middle, Ah Mow said, “She’s going to be one that everybody’s going to keep talking about.”
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.