Sweep music: Hawai’i downs Utah Valley in straight sets for first victory

HONOLULU – In the win column.

The University of Hawai’i women’s volleyball team got off the schneid on Friday night, securing a straight-set victory over Utah Valley (3-3) at the Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, 27-25, 25-20, 25-17. Led by junior outside hitter Stella Adeyemi’s career-best 17 kills, the Rainbow Wahine shook off the slowest start to a season in program history to snap the Wolverines’ two-match win streak.

Freshman outside hitter Cha’lei Reid added 15 kills in the victory for Hawai’i (1-4), also racking up two of the team’s eight service aces throughout the night. Senior middle blocker Bri Gunderson, who transferred to UH after spending the past two years at Eastern Washington, tallied an absurd nine blocks in the three sets to mark a new season-high while she punched down three kills and added an ace.

Hawai’i started the night strong, scoring the first four points of the match with the help of an aggressive Adeyemi. The Rainbow Wahine advantage grew as large as five in the first frame, but Utah Valley battled back to take a 15-14 lead at the first media timeout of the evening.

Hawai’i head coach Robyn Ah Mow called for her first timeout of the match after seeing the Wolverines take a 20-18 lead behind an ace from Bella Wooden, looking to calm down the youthful Rainbow Wahine. Following the break in the action, Reid turned it up another gear to help pull the hosts back even at 22. A few serves later, Gunderson helped force extra points and the star freshman Reid slammed the first frame door shut with a spinning service ace, 27-25.

The second set served up more of the same as Hawai’i raced out to an early four-point lead again behind contributions from Adeyemi and sophomore middle blocker Miliana Sylvester. The Rainbow Wahine advantage only grew as the frame continued, expanding to as much as eight points before comfortably closing out the second stanza, 25-20.

“We honestly focused on reducing our errors,” sophomore libero Victoria Leyva said during the Spectrum Sports postgame interview. “Any time we made an error – I was just like flush it, next one. A lot of maturity in this one game, we learned so much from our first four games, for sure.”

Utah Valley came out of the blocks strong to begin the do-or-die third set, taking the first three points on a pair of blocks and an ace from the service line. Hawai’i responded by scoring eight of the next nine points, jumping back ahead 8-4 with a two-set lead in the back pocket already.

The Wolverines never recovered from the early third set run from UH, pulling as close as one point on four different occasions down the stretch but never pulling even as the Rainbow Wahine dispatched the visitors from the WAC, 25-17.

Leyva compiled a tidy nine digs across the three frames while sophomore setter Adrianna Arquette handed out a match-best 34 assists for Hawai’i, who will close out the 2025 OUTRIGGER Invitational on Sunday at 5 p.m. HT against St. John’s.

“That’s what they can do,” Ah Mow said of her young squad in the Spectrum Sports postgame. “They did their job, the blocking assignments, everything. Hats off to them. We’re coming back, guys.”