HONOLULU — The alternating hot-and-cold play of the Hawaii women’s volleyball team remains attached to the Rainbow Wahine regardless of site or opponent.

A lukewarm outing of more than three hours was just good enough to pull off a 25-22, 17-25, 28-30, 25-19, 15-12 win against a traditional conference also-ran in Cal State Northridge before a Sunday night crowd of 3,990 (5,648 tickets issued) at the Stan Sheriff Center.

UH (13-7, 7-3 BWC) committed almost twice as many attack errors as CSUN (7-14, 2-8) and got outblocked 10-8, but remained tied in the Big West with Cal Poly, two games behind leader UC Davis (9-1).

Rainbow Wahine associate head coach Kaleo Baxter gave credit to CSUN for a hard-fought match but said, "I think we're just giving up too many points on our side of the ball. There's a lot of unforced errors and we're just having to work harder because of that. But walking away with a victory we're always going to be happy, but we definitely need to be better."

Junior hitter Caylen Alexander, who reached the 1,000-kill plateau in Tuesday’s four-set win at Cal State Bakersfield, was her prolific self with 28 kills and 10 errors on 70 swings (.257). Stella Adeyemi added 13 kills, including the match-winner on UH’s second opportunity to end it.

Tali Hakas had 12 kills against 11 errors with four service aces and middle Jacyn Bamis had 10 kills.

"We need to be much, much better," Alexander said. "It's like Coach Kaleo said, we're not showing up and I think that right now we're lacking a little bit of discipline. ... But I have faith in this team."

CSUN entered the night 0-19 at Hawaii, and with just two wins in the 34-match series. But the Matadors threatened to end their winless run at UH by limiting clean Wahine swings at the net; they got their hands on a lot of balls, leading to some long rallies.

The first two sets embodied some of the best and worst extremes that the Rainbow Wahine have swung between in 2024. They hit just .067 in the second, with 11 attack errors.

The Matadors lost one of their top pin hitters, Hailey Brockway, in the second set when Hakas smashed a ball into Brockway's head. A woozy Brockway was helped from the floor shortly after a hush fell over the crowd. CSUN also lost another player due to cramping in the fifth set.

"I've never experienced that before as a coach," CSUN first-year coach Aquiles Montoya told Spectrum News. "I'm really proud of how we battled. Moving forward, we're not afraid of anyone, even a historical program like this in a really intense environment. So, I'm happy in the growth. I'm always going to be disappointed in losses."

UH could not make good on two set points in the third set. Alexander shanked Katie Kolar’s serve and CSUN claimed the set on its fourth opportunity.

"After losing that third set I would say we were even more fired up, because we should have won it," said setter Kate Lang, who had 44 assists and 17 digs. "We had to make changes, and we did, but we need to make them sooner."

UH built an early five-point lead in the fourth, saw it disappear and built it back up again.

The Wahine triggered the eight-point court switch in a tight fifth set on a block of Leah Miller by Alexander and Bamis.

The teams continued to alternate points until Alexander solo blocked Julia Bazylevych for a 10-8 lead. CSUN promptly tied it back up at 10 on an ace by Presley Nippert, and the Matadors took the lead on an illegal back-row block call on UH.

CSUN coach Aquiles Montoya was unsuccessful on a challenge on a kill by Adeyemi and UH reclaimed the lead with a net violation on the Matadors.

Miliana Sylvester and Adeyemi blocked Iye Okolo and UH led 13-11. Alexander’s serve forced an overpass put down at the net.

CSUN sided out on UH’s first match point but could not produce another point.

"Robyn (UH head coach Ah Mow) does an amazing job with her team and they made some fantastic adjustments that we couldn't really get through," Montoya said. "I think we made a counter-move and they countered it and we didn't have one after that."

Amaris Smith led CSUN with 15 kills. Libero Paige Sentes dug a match-high 28 balls.

It was the only scheduled meeting between the teams this season as part of the Big West’s unbalanced 18-game regular season.

UH continues its three-match homestand against UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly on Friday and Saturday.

Note: This story has been updated with interviews from the match.

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