Potent offensive attack helps No. 4 Stanford sweep Hawai’i

Rocky start to the road trip.

On the continent for the first time in the 2025 season, the Hawai’i women’s volleyball team saw slow starts haunt them as the Rainbow Wahine fell in straight sets to No. 4 Stanford, (25-19, 25-18, 25-20). The Cardinal offense dominated for much of the night, hitting to the tune of .262 as a group while being led by senior outside hitter Elia Rubin, who finished with a double-double for the hosts with 16 kills and 13 digs.

Freshman Cha’lei Reid had an up-and-down showing for Hawai’i (4-5) as she experienced her first road action as a college player. The 6-foot freshman from Kahuku led the Rainbow Wahine with 10 kills, her sixth outing reaching double figures in that department, but committed seven attack errors as she hit a season-low .073% in the loss.

Stanford (7-2) came out of the gates quickly, taking a 10-3 advantage in the opening frame before the Rainbow Wahine battled back to knot it at 17 apiece. Despite the comeback effort from UH, the battle-tested Cardinal closed out the first set on an 8-2 run to calmly take a 1-0 lead over the visitors from the Big West.

The second set provided more of the same as Hawai’i saw Stanford fly out to an 8-2 advantage as five different Cardinal recorded kills and the Rainbow Wahine turned in a pair of attacking errors for a counter. UH tried to fight back again late after falling down by as many as eight, but Erika Sayer slammed the door shut on the second frame with the most important of her nine kills for Stanford to put the Rainbow Wahine in an 0-2 hole.

After trading rallies to begin the third frame, the Cardinal used kills from Lizzy Andrew and Ipar Kurt to help double up the Rainbow Wahine, 10-5. With the match’s overall result trending towards a grim result, Hawai’i showed resolve despite being down to the final two points as Robyn Ah Mow’s team rattled off a 6-0 run behind the help of a trio of successful attacks from Reid.

Unfortunately for the Rainbow Wahine, Stanford settled following a timeout and closed the book on the visitors from the islands as Rubin and Logan Parks had back-to-back putdowns to end it, 25-20.

Stella Adeyemi added eight kills on 32 swings in the loss for Hawai’i, committing just one hitting error and chipping in double-digit digs for the fourth time this season with 11. Tyla Reese Mane and Miliana Sylvester each chipped in five kills for UH and combined for nine of the Rainbow Wahine’s 16 blocks as a team.

Hawai’i returns to action on Saturday at 11 a.m. HT, facing UCLA in the second day of the Stanford Tournament. The Bruins just missed out on appearing in the most recent AVCA Top 25 rankings, receiving the most votes (67) among programs that missed out on the latest rankings.