Hakas hits career-high mark as Hawai’i handles New Mexico in Mountain West opener

HONOLULU – Service pressure, near-perfect passing and a pretty strong debut in the Mountain West.

The University of Hawai’i women’s volleyball team tallied a sweep of New Mexico on Friday night, (25-17, 25-13, 25-21), as Tali Hakas tied a career-high with 17 kills to lead the way in a convincing conference-opening win for the Rainbow Wahine.

“Obviously happy with the sweep,” head coach Joshua Walker said following the rapid takedown of the Lobos. “We were able to try and do some different things as far as lineups, got a little bit of a 6-2 out there, so once again, just trying to keep finding ways to be efficient and try to find solutions and we had enough tonight.”

The Rainbow Wahine saw the return of preseason all-conference selection Cha’lei Reid, who finished with three kills as she made it back on the court for the first time in nearly a month after recovering from a shoulder injury that held her out for the majority of the non-conference slate.

“It did suck, like sitting out and stuff,” Reid said of her eight-game absence. “Definitely tried to keep a positive mindset throughout this whole past month, just doing recovery and taking care of my shoulder and just being a good teammate from the responsibilities that I had while being injured.”

While she started slow in her return-to-play, middle blockers Miliana Sylvester and Rachel Purser helped pick up the slack as the duo combined for 16 kills and only three errors on 32 total attacks.

Hawai’i also displayed another night of dynamic denials, racking up 9.0 blocks as a group. It marked the sixth time this season that the Rainbow Wahine totaled at least nine blocks in a match.

The service pressure by Hawai’i also provided issues for New Mexico as the hosts hammered nine aces across the three frames. Senior outside hitter Panna Ratkai posted a season-best five aces for UH while freshman Cameron Holcomb tallied a career-high four aces.

Hawai’i wasted little time taking control of the opening set, racing out to a 10-point lead by the media timeout before ultimately taking the frame, 25-17, behind the dynamic duo of Ratkai and Hakas. Ratkai racked up four of her five aces in the set while Hakas had seven kills for the Rainbow Wahine.

The second set brought even better results as Hawai’i hit a match-high .531 in the frame, seeing Rachel Purser and Miliana Sylvester continue a perfect night out of the middle.

“We want, obviously, as many threats as possible across the front of the court,” Walker said of the increased offensive action for the middle blocker spot. “When we’re passing well, we want our middles to be a threat because that puts pressure on [New Mexico] to decide what they have to do on good passes.”

Hawai’i handled business in the third frame as well, cycling through some of the depth before stepping on the gas to close out the team’s fifth sweep of the season.

Victoria Leyva provided elite defense again for the Rainbow Wahine, totaling a team-best 21 digs in the victory. Adrianna Arquette added her fifth double-double of the season for UH, handing out 33 assists while tacking on 11 digs.

Reagan Miller paced the Lobos, putting down 10 kills on 23 swings and tallying a team-high three blocks in the loss.

Hawai’i and New Mexico will reconvene for Round 2 on Saturday night inside Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center with first serve set for 7:00 p.m. HT.