An erratic season by Hawaii women’s volleyball standards nonetheless resulted in a heavy complement of postseason awards for the Rainbow Wahine.

UH, which is the No. 2 seed for this week’s Big West championships in Irvine, Calif., got three of the five capital Big West honors: Big West Player of the Year for hitter Caylen Alexander; Big West Setter of the Year for Kate Lang; and Big West Libero of the Year for Tayli Ikenaga.

What You Need To Know

  • Hawaii women's volleyball hitter Caylen Alexander became the 10th Rainbow Wahine to receive Big West Player of the Year honors on Tuesday

  • Setter Kate Lang and libero Tayli Ikenaga also received Big West capital awards at their positions

  • Middle Jacyn Bamis and hitter Tali Hakas were named BWC honorable mentions while middle Miliana Sylvester made the All-Freshman team

  • The Rainbow Wahine begin play in the Big West championships as the No. 2 seed against either No. 3 UC Davis or No. 6 UC Irvine at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif., at 4 p.m. Hawaii time Friday

[Note: See below for more photos of UH's All-Big West volleyball honorees.]

Alexander and Lang made the All-Big West first team and Ikenaga the second team. There were no liberos or defensive specialists on the first team.

Hitter Tali Hakas and middle Jacyn Bamis made BWC honorable mention while middle Miliana Sylvester was named to the seven-player All-Freshmen Team.

UC Santa Barbara’s Eva Travis was Big West Freshman of the Year and Cal Poly’s Caroline Walters was Big West Coach of the Year.

Alexander, a junior from Alpharetta, Ga., is the 10th Wahine player to earn the Big West’s top individual honor, and sixth since UH rejoined the conference in 2012. She leads NCAA Division I in total kills (566), is second in total points (626) and is third in kills per set (5.24).

This season, Alexander has 14 20-kill matches and two 30-kill matches this season, and picked up Big West Player of the Week a conference-record seven times. Her total kills are the most by a UH player since the NCAA went to the 25-point set-scoring system in 2008.

Lang, a senior from Keller, Texas, picked up the BWC’s top setter award for the second time and made the first team for a third time. A top-three player in assists in UH history, Lang leads the conference in total assists (1,195) and is 23rd in the country in assists per set (10.58). Her career average of 10.44 assists per set would rank seventh in UH history if the season ended today.

Ikenaga, a four-year starter out of Moanalua High, picked up her first career Big West honor. She was second in the conference in total digs (454) and digs per set (4.02). She posted six 20-dig matches, topping out with a career-best 33 against Pepperdine on Sept. 7. The Salt Lake native has 1,320 career digs for fifth on the UH chart.

Bamis and Sylvester had the unenviable task of replacing the large shoes of graduated All-America middle Amber Igiede. Bamis, of Spokane, Wash., hit .315 with 2.61 kills per set in conference matches. Igiede, a University Lab School graduate, started all 28 matches and led the team with a .296 average across all matches.

Hakas, of Israel, was one of UH’s most versatile players with 2.02 kills per set and 2.83 digs per set.

The conference’s 11 head coaches voted on the awards.

The Big West tournament begins Wednesday with two opening-round matchups at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center. No. 4 Long Beach State faces No. 5 UC San Diego at 1 p.m. Hawaii time and No. 3 UC Davis follows against No. 6 UCI at 6 p.m.

UH (19-9, 13-5 BWC) got a bye into the semifinals by virtue of its top-two placement in the standings and faces the winner of Davis and Irvine at 4 p.m. Hawaii time Friday.

The Wahine can guarantee an extension of their streak of 30 straight NCAA Tournament qualifications by winning two matches.

Kate Lang was named Big West Setter of the Year for the second time in her career. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
Senior Tayli Ikenaga, left in black, received the first Big West honors of her career. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
Big West honorable mention Tayli lkenaga was an all-around contributor for the Rainbow Wahine. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)
Hawaii middle Jacyn Bamis, along with freshman Miliana Sylvester, had to fill some large shoes with the departure of All-American Amber Igiede. (Spectrum News/Brian McInnis)

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