Whether through choice or necessity, the Hawaii women’s volleyball team made a successful 24-hour pivot.

UH and its fans in the Stan Sheriff Center left in a daze after UC Irvine came back to reverse sweep the Rainbow Wahine in their Big West opener on Friday night. On Saturday, coach Robyn Ah Mow turned to some new faces and her team responded with its first sweep of the season, a brisk 25-17, 25-13, 25-17 takedown of Cal State Fullerton.

However, the biggest question entering the night – the status of one of the nation’s kill leaders, junior hitter Caylen Alexander – remained unresolved. Alexander was pulled early in the fourth set of the Irvine loss and did not appear on the floor Saturday, though she was in uniform and supporting teammates from the sidelines.

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Ah Mow told Spectrum Sports’ Scott Robbs about Alexander afterward. “It’s OK, we get other girls. It’s all good.”

For at least one night, freshman middle Miliana Sylvester helped make Alexander’s absence moot. The University Lab School graduate put down kills on her first 12 swings and finished with 14 on 17 attempts for a hitting percentage of .765, the highest for a Wahine player in two seasons.

“Mili’s just listening and she’s thinking about the things the coaches are telling her and she’s making changes,” Ah Mow said.

UH (7-5, 1-1 BWC) avoided matching the program’s longest losing streak of five and improved to 50-0 all-time against CSUF (4-8, 0-2).

Ah Mow started three freshmen. Kamehameha graduate Adrianna Arquette was in the opening lineup at opposite and supplied five kills – including the match-winner – and two aces and a block. Middle Maddie Way stepped in for Jacyn Bamis and put down eight kills with three blocks in her first start.

Senior setter Kate Lang was able to make it work as UH hit a season-high .381 with just nine attack errors.

Backup setter Jackie Matias was inserted in back-row situations and Arquette, who was recruited as a setter, helped steady things out, Ah Mow said.

“Just find ways,” she said. “We got three setters out there, just ball control with that. If somebody’s not going good … we gotta find another lineup and go with that.”

Fullerton was held to .021 hitting with Bianca Martinez having the most success: seven kills on 14 swings.

The Wahine play their first Big West road matches at UC San Diego (7-6, 1-1) and Long Beach State (8-4, 2-0) on Friday (3 p.m. Hawaii time) and Saturday (4:30 HST).

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.