Youthful Hawai’i opens new volleyball era with gritty win over SMU

HONOLULU – Sometimes, you need a tunnel talk. 

The University of Hawai’i Rainbow Wahine volleyball team opened the 2024 season with an impressive victory in the opening match of the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic, dispatching SMU in five sets (7-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-21, 15-13). UH junior outside hitter Caylen Alexander showed out for the Rainbow Wahine, posting a double-double with a career-high 28 kills and 11 digs in the win. 

For Hawai’i, it was a remarkable illustration of grit in the first official action since the graduation of all-time program great Amber Igiede. It looked like UH would struggle after a meager start to the match, but the Rainbow Wahine shook off the slow start to show off the same winning DNA ingrained in the program’s roots. 

New ACC member and last year’s AAC champions SMU blitzed Hawai’i out of the gate, dominating an inexperienced Rainbow Wahine unit in the opening set with a 25-7 win behind an insane .647 hitting percentage on 17 total attacks. The smoking from SMU led to a spirited “tunnel talk” for Hawai’i after the opening frame, needing a change in energy after sleepwalking through a sloppy first set. 

Hawai’i returned fire in the second frame by using the powerful right arm swing of Alexander, the preseason All-Big West selection, as the junior racked up 10 kills to lead the Rainbow Wahine to a 25-23 win in the second set. 

The third set saw UH jump out to a small lead over the Mustangs, using SMU self-inflicted wounds and an ace by Alexander for a 15-13 advantage midway through the stanza. Following the media timeout, SMU would rebound and rocket themselves back in front by four, 22-18, to force Robyn Ah Mow to call for a timeout of her own. 

The Rainbow Wahine returned to the floor with a few changes to the lineup as Jackie Matias and Tyla Reese Mane saw action for Ah Mow, immediately bringing Hawai’i back to tie and take a 24-23 lead. Unfortunately for Hawai’i, SMU re-found footing for the next three points to snatch the third set, 26-24, and take a 2-1 set lead. 

Again, Hawai’i fought back in the fourth frame behind four more kills by Alexander as Ah Mow’s Rainbow Wahine staved off a season-opening loss in favor of a winner-take-all fifth set with a 25-21 victory. Before the fifth set even began, Alexander had set a new career high in kills by surpassing the 22-kill threshold. 

UH grabbed an important 8-5 advantage midway through the all-important fifth frame as Tali Hakas (who just re-joined the team this week after competing with the Israel national team this past summer) and Stella Adeyemi joined Kate Lang (36 assists, 7 digs & an ace) and Alexander on the fun. While SMU fought back to tie the frame at 10-all, Hawai’i calmly handled business to take the final set, 15-13. 

Alexander’s 28 kills for Hawai’i led all players in the match and her 11 digs ranked the outside hitter at 2nd-most for the Rainbow Wahine on the night behind libero/defensive specialist Tayli Ikenaga’s 12 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Stella Adeyemi was the only other UH player to reach double figures in kills with 10 in her first career start for the Rainbow Wahine. 

Despite committing 40 hitting errors throughout the match, a young Hawai’i squad that saw 11 players out of 13 on the roster get time pulled out a win to begin the season with a victory in back-to-back years.  

SMU returns to action on Saturday at 7 p.m. HT against San Diego, the third program in the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic. Hawai’i will face San Diego on Sunday with first serve scheduled for 5:00 p.m. HT at SimplFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.