Tali Hakas ensured that there would be no drama on Night 1 of Hawaii women’s volleyball senior weekend.

The sophomore from Israel put together her best all-around match in a Rainbow Wahine uniform and UH pushed past Long Beach State, 25-15, 25-23, 25-21 on Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center, to keep pace with two rivals atop the Big West Conference.

UH (17-8, 11-4 BWC) remained even with UC Davis and Cal Poly with three matches to play before the Big West tournament in Irvine, Calif. The top two seeds get first-round byes.

The Wahine knocked LBSU (16-10, 10-6) out of realistic contention for a top-two spot by completing a home-and-home season sweep — both coming in straight sets.

UC San Diego (16-10, 10-5) is up next Saturday night. Following that match, UH will honor its two seniors, setter Kate Lang and libero Tayli Ikenaga.

Friday night was all about Hakas, who had 10 kills without an error, a career-best 19 digs, a career-high-tying four aces, and four blocks to match a season high.

“I talked a lot about this in the last two weeks, you guys gotta trust (Hakas),” coach Robyn Ah Mow told Spectrum Sports’ Jordan Helle after the match. “The setter just gotta trust the hitters. I think sometimes (Lang) kind of goes away from them, no trust, but she went back and hey, 3-0, I’m good.”

Hakas’ turn on the service line in Set 1 helped UH build a 22-9 advantage. While LBSU, with its quick-strike offense, was more competitive in Sets 2 and 3, UH closed out the final points effectively.

Ah Mow was pleased with her group’s all-around performance.

“I thought they came out and they played,” she said of her players. “I thought their blocking was going to worry me with the fast offense (of LBSU). I thought they blocked really well (8-5 advantage). Our defense, we did a whole bunch of quick balls here and there (65-45 digs advantage) because they run a quick offense. I thought they played good. Our serving was good.”

Hitter Caylen Alexander had a match-high 12 kills, including the clincher.

Lang tallied 34 assists and moved into fourth place on the UH career list with 4,310, passing Cheri Boyer. She needs three more to match Ah Mow at third.

Abby Karich led the Beach with eight kills on 34 swings. LBSU was held to .109 hitting to UH's .205.

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