HONOLULU — The Hawaii women’s volleyball team figures to be battle-tested by the time it attempts to defend its Big West standing.
UH announced its full 28-game 2024 schedule on Friday. It includes 16 dates at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, beginning with SMU in the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic in the season opener Aug. 30.
Though the home schedule lacks some of the usual marquee names from the former Pac-12 Conference – the likes of UCLA and USC – there are defending conference champions in SMU (American Athletic Conference, now in the Atlantic Coast Conference) and Pepperdine (West Coast Conference, Sept. 6 and 7) making the trip out to the Islands.
In a shift from tradition in a time of rampant conference realignment, UH’s two home nonconference tournaments will be three-team round-robin events instead of four teams. The Rainbow Wahine Classic includes SMU and San Diego, and the Outrigger Invitational (Sept. 13 and 14) includes Oregon State and Texas State.
ESPN Honolulu's play-by-play man for UH volleyball, Tiff Wells, told Spectrum News that recent changes in the conference landscape, including some of the Power Four conferences going to 20-game league schedules (Big Ten, ACC), leaves less room for multi-team events. Three-team events and two-match sets could become increasingly common, he said.
Coach Robyn Ah Mow's group wraps up nonconference play with a stacked three-game road trip at UNLV (Sept. 17), two-time defending national champion Texas (Sept. 20) and Baylor (Sept. 21). It is the program’s third trip to Texas in the last four years.
The Wahine then embark on the 18-game Big West regular season by hosting UC Irvine Sept. 27. UH will attempt to make a 31st straight NCAA Tournament in an active season. The top six of 11 teams will qualify for the Big West championships in Irvine, Calif., on Nov. 27, with the winner gaining the conference’s automatic berth to the NCAAs. UH won the inaugural edition of the modern version of the league tournament last November.
In the unbalanced conference regular-season, the Wahine’s two single games are at Cal State Bakersfield (Oct. 22) as part of a three-game road trip to Central California, and CSUN (Oct. 27) at home on a Sunday. It will face all other members on a home-and-home basis.
The Wahine will compete without several of their top arms from last season – All-American Amber Igiede, four-year staple Riley Wagoner, Paula Guersching and Kendra Ham. Igiede, Wagoner and Ham expended their eligibility while Guersching transferred to Miami.
UH’s top returnees are senior setter Kate Lang, junior hitter Caylen Alexander, sophomore hitter Tali Hakas and senior libero Tayli Ikenaga.
UH’s signing class includes three local players among five incoming freshmen: Kamehameha’s Adrianna Arquette, Kapolei High’s Malinah Purcell-Telefoni and University Lab’s Miliana Sylvester.
UH women’s volleyball 2024 schedule
* – Big West Conference match
Aug. 30 – SMU
Sept. 1 – San Diego
Sept. 6 – Pepperdine
Sept. 7 – Pepperdine
Sept. 10 – Texas State
Sept. 13 – Oregon State
Sept. 14 – Texas State
Sept. 17 – at UNLV
Sept. 20 – at Texas
Sept. 21 – at Baylor
Sept. 27 – UC Irvine*
Sept. 28 – Cal State Fullerton*
Oct. 4 – at UC San Diego*
Oct. 5 – at Long Beach State*
Oct. 11 – UC Davis*
Oct. 12 – UC Riverside*
Oct. 18 – at Cal Poly*
Oct. 19 – at UC Santa Barbara*
Oct. 22 – at Cal State Bakersfield*
Oct. 27 – CSUN*
Nov. 1 – UC Santa Barbara*
Nov. 2 – Cal Poly*
Nov. 7 – at UC Riverside*
Nov. 9 – at UC Davis*
Nov. 15 – Long Beach State*
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.