Somehow, Big West Libero of the Year Tayli Ikenaga was left off the All-Big West first team in women’s volleyball postseason awards announced this week.
That was rectified on Saturday as Ikenaga was named the Most Valuable Player of the Big West championships following Hawaii’s four-set victory over Cal Poly at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif., on Saturday night. Ikenaga, a senior from Honolulu out of Moanalua High, notched 13 digs in the championship match after popping up 19 in the semifinals against UC Davis on Friday.
UH (21-9) will make a 31st straight NCAA Tournament appearance, not including the 2020 season that was canceled by the Big West due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I'm just so proud. I definitely could not have done it without my teammates," Ikenaga told the Big West's broadcast team. "It was definitely a great team win over these past two days. ... The job's not done yet, so we're ready to go in (to the NCAAs) and work hard."
After an up-and-down season by the program’s lofty standards, coach Robyn Ah Mow’s group backed up UH’s 2023 win in the inaugural year of the modern version of the Big West tournament.
The Rainbow Wahine await the NCAA selection show at 1 p.m. Hawaii time Sunday. The team is scheduled to arrive back in Honolulu around midday and will head straight to campus to watch the show.
The second-seeded Wahine missed on two chances to end the match in straight sets but built up quadruple match point in Set 4. After top-seeded Cal Poly turned away two match points, UH ended it on a kill by freshman middle Miliana Sylvester for a 25-19, 25-19, 27-29, 25-22 decision.
"I knew it was going to be like this," Ah Mow told the Big West broadcast of her young team. "We just got to push 'em, love 'em, push 'em, love 'em, and cross our fingers that they're going to come out and do what they gotta do.
"Every game they give me migraines," Ah Mow added. "They just keep fighting. That's a good, tight-knit group. Just happy that we can continue our season."
Sylvester came up huge with 14 kills against just one error on 28 swings to hit .464, and was in on six blocks. After setter Kate Lang went to Caylen Alexander at the right pin, Cal Poly returned it and Lang set Syvester at the middle. Her ball to the back right corner was unable to be corraled.
Caylen Alexander had 14 kills and 11 errors, Tali Hakas supplied 12 kills and Jacyn Bamis nine.
UH swept all three matches against Cal Poly (22-9) this season. Setter Kate Lang had 42 assists and directed UH to a .295 hitting performance to the Mustangs’ .185.
"The Big West, all the teams this year, you really had to show up in order to win games," Ah Mow said. "Cal Poly played awesome tonight."
Hakas had a match-high 19 digs while Lang had 10.
Breklyn Pulling and Lizzy Markovska led Cal Poly with 13 kills apiece.
Note: This story will be updated.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.