LA JOLLA, Calif. — The Hawaii women’s volleyball team continues to find ways to manufacture high drama.

It was not enough that Caylen Alexander made a return to the lineup after sitting nearly the last six sets for coach Robyn Ah Mow. UH had to do what it has done best in 2024 — stretch matches to their limit.

UH rode Alexander’s 24 kills to a 13-25, 18-25, 25-14, 25-12, 15-10 reverse sweep of UC San Diego in front of a split crowd of 1,682 at LionTree Arena in La Jolla, Calif.

Alexander, a junior from Alpharetta, Ga., who has one of the highest usage rates in the country, took a seat in the fourth set of UH's five-set home loss to UC Irvine last week. She was held out the following match, a sweep win over Cal State Fullerton, for nebulous reasons by Ah Mow.

It took a little while Friday, but she eventually looked like her old self.

The Tritons appeared to be well on their way to their first win over the Rainbow Wahine in seven all-time matchups, dominating the first two sets as UH was held to a .000 hitting percentage in both.

Then UH (8-5, 2-1 Big West) finally got rolling. Alexander, who had committed six attack errors against six kills to that point, put down seven in the third, 10 in a red-hot fourth and UH’s first point in the fifth.

Stella Adeyemi picked it up from there with four of her five kills in the fifth. Defensive specialist Victoria Leyva lobbed in one of her three aces on the first match point.

UH has gone to five sets in eight of its 13 matches this season.

Over the last three sets, UH hit .421, putting down 38 kills against just six attack errors.

The Wahine were outdone at the service line (six to nine in aces) but outperformed UCSD at the net (6-3 blocks) and on defense (61-44 digs).

Tali Hakas had seven kills and middle Miliana Sylvester six.

Libero Tayli Ikenaga had 17 digs, Hakas 12 and Leyva 11.

Ava McInnes led the Tritons (7-8, 1-3) with 14 kills and Kylie Pries added 11.

UH continues its Southern California swing at Long Beach State (9-4, 3-0) at the Walter Pyramid at 4:30 p.m. Hawaii time Saturday. The Beach have won five straight, most recently a sweep of UCSD at LionTree on Wednesday.

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