HONOLULU — Robyn Ah Mow can’t quit you, Kate Lang.
Through a seemingly volatile five-year relationship between the former Hawaii volleyball great and her prized recruit who plays the coach’s old position, some remarkable stability has emerged.
It was underscored by a statistic in Sunday night’s Big West match against UC Riverside, a businesslike 25-16, 25-18, 25-16 sweep in front of 3,390 attendees (5,512 tickets issued) at the Stan Sheriff Center.
[Note: See below for photos of UC Riverside-Hawaii.]
Lang made her 100th consecutive start, over which time she has appeared in all 371 sets.
“I’m feeling a little old,” Lang remarked with a smile after the match when informed of the stat.
“But I think that does a little bit for my confidence,” she added. “I was just telling Coach Rob, I didn’t even know that, and I felt like I’d been benched at some point in between this. But I haven’t. I guess that’s a confidence booster for myself.”
Lang helped guide the Rainbow Wahine (10-6, 4-2 Big West) to a .369 hitting performance two days after UH got upset at home for the second time early in conference play, a four-setter against UC Davis.
The 5-foot-10 native of Keller, Texas, was able to give way to backup Jackie Matias late in Sets 2 and 3 as Ah Mow gave the second unit some work against overmatched UCR (5-14, 0-6).
Fittingly, Lang’s streak began with a road match against the same Highlanders on Sept. 23, 2021.
She recalled being relieved that it came in a situation with lower-than-usual pressure, against a manageable opponent in front of a small crowd on the road — as opposed to the large, loud and loyal Wahine following at home.
Ah Mow, who often has mid-match discussions with Lang, made a swerving, up-and-down motion with her hand to describe the “love-hate” relationship with her all-conference setter.
“She can have games like, ‘holy, wow.’ And then, I don’t know how it comes down like this, but she typically goes like that and comes back up,” Ah Mow said.
But, she noted, “She’s still playing, right?”
Ah Mow said Lang has come a long way from her club days when she had a locked set of teammates for a four-year period. In contrast, UH — sometimes in fits and starts — has worked some new players into prominent roles this year.
“I think she just had to learn the setting game, because at club for four years she had the same hitters … and didn’t have to think about her offense,” Ah Mow said.
Lang is fifth all-time in UH assists at 3,901 after posting 32 on Sunday. For reference: Ah Mow (1993-96) is third at 4,313.
Caylen Alexander put down kills on the first three points of the match and finished with 19 on .378 hitting. Middles Miliana Sylvester and Jacyn Bamis combined for 17 kills on .467 hitting.
UH was plus-21 on digs, led by libero Tayli Ikenaga's 17, Alexander's eight and six each from Lang and defensive specialist Victoria Leyva. The Wahine never trailed.
The Wahine are in the thick of a packed top half of the conference. Cal Poly, Long Beach State and UC Davis are tied at the top at 5-1. UC Irvine is tied with UH at 4-2.
“I think having these losses so early on is not a good feeling, so I think that as a team we’re doing a good job of taking those lessons that we’re learning and trying to fix and trying to grow after every one of them,” Lang said. “We have a young team, and things are going to happen, and it’s up to us what we’re going to do with those things, those losses. I’m feeling confident, but I’m also feeling we have some work to put in and I’m excited about what can come out of that.”
University Lab School graduate Makena Tong led the Highlanders with 11 assists off the bench. Tong warmly greeted Sylvester, a fellow former Junior Bow, afterward.
UH embarks on a rare three-match conference road trip next week against Cal Poly on Friday (4 p.m. Hawaii time), UC Santa Barbara on Saturday (4 p.m.) and Cal State Bakersfield the following Tuesday (3 p.m.).
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.