Rainbow Wahine look to rebound against Matadors

Coming off their first conference loss of the season, the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team will look for a bounce-back performance today against Cal State Northridge at the Matadome.
Hawaii (11-6, 8-1 BWC) will try to extend a 10-match winning streak against CSUN (4-15, 3-6) and end the first half of the Big West schedule with a share of first place. The Wahine enter today’s match a half-game behind UC Santa Barbara (13-9, 9-1) after being swept by the Gauchos on Friday in Santa Barbara. They will be no worse than solo second after Cal Poly was swept by UC Irvine today to fall to 7-3 in league play.
CSUN won two road matches at UC Davis and UC Riverside last week before being swept by UCSB on Tuesday. The Matadors rank 10th in the conference in hitting at .158 while UH dipped to .221 with a .174 performance on Friday.
Today’s match will be streamed on ESPN+ with radio coverage on 1500-AM.

SET 4
>> Williams gets a touch called on her attempt in the middle to open the set. CSUN challenges. Call stands. Leoniak stays hot with two more kills and UH takes a 4-2 lead.
>> CSUN comes back to tie it at 9-9 and takes an 11-10 lead. Wagoner wins a joust to tie it at 12-12 and Leoniak serves up her fourth ace to give UH the lead. Wagoner kill and a CSUN error gives UH a 15-13 lead at the media timeout.
>> Johnson gets her third kill to give UH a 16-13 lead but CSUN goes on a 3-0 run and ties it with an ace. A Johnson/Williams block gives UH a 19-17 lead. After a service error and a CSUN kill in the middle it’s 19-19. Timeout UH.
>> Johnson goes off the block and Williams scores off the touch in the middle and UH leads 21-19. Timeout CSUN.
>> CSUN gets a sideout, but another double-contact gives UH a 22-20 lead. The teams trade sideouts and CSUN calls timeout after Orshoff hits into the net. UH up 23-21.
>> Yet another double contact on a CSUN setter gives UH match point. Leoniak’s serve is shanked for a walk-off ace and UH wins 25-15, 22-25, 25-15, 25-21 win. UH improves to 12-6 and 9-1 in Big West play to tie UCSB for first place.
>> Leoniak finishes with 15 kills, five aces, 10 digs and four blocks.

SET 3
>> Mia Johnson starts the set in place of Van Sickle and opens the set with a kill. UH takes a 6-1 lead with two kills by Leoniak and two CSUN errors. Leoniak sends a set outside to Wagoner for a kill and an 8-2 UH lead. Timeout CSUN.
>> Leoniak teams with Igeide on a block and her ace makes it 10-4. Three straight CSUN hitting errors makes it 16-6. Matadors take their second timeout of the set.
>> Williams gets a kill then back-to-back blocks and UH runs out to a 21-8 lead. CSUN cuts into the deficit with back-to-back aces. But UH finishes off the set 25-15 on a dump by Lang on set point. UH hits .500 in the set (13-2-22). Leoniak with a match-high 12 kills on .522 hitting. Van Sickle (5-3-19) spent the set on the bench marking the first time she has missed a set this season.

SET 2
>> CSUN opens the set with a kill in the middle to take its first lead of the match. The teams trade sideouts until UH goes on a 4-0 run on Ikenaga’s serve and leads 11-9 on a Wagoner kill. CSUN answers to take a 13-12 lead. UH takes a 15-14 lead on a block by Lang and Williams before the media timeout.
>> CSUN takes a 17-16 lead with an ace, UH ties on a Van Sickle kill. CSUN’s Taylor Hunter scores twice in the middle and Wagoner hits into the net to give CSUN a 20-17 lead. Timeout UH.
>> Leoniak goes off the block to stop CSUN’s 3-0 run then gets a solo block. A missed connection by CSUN ties it up at 20-20. Timeout CSUN.
>> Taylor Orshoff gets a kill to give CSUN the lead and Lauryn Anderson puts one down in the middle. Matadors hit long but come back with a kill to take a 23-21 lead. Timeout UH.
>> Seyvion Waggoner hammers a cross-court kill to give CSUN set point at 24-21. A double-contact extends the set, but the Matadors end it on Anderson’s kill in the middle to give CSUN a 25-22 win. Match tied 1-1. Matadors hit .364 in the set. Leoniak leading UH with seven kills in 16 swings with no errors.

Set 1
>> Hawaii starters vs. CSUN: OH Brooke Van Sickle, MB Amber Igiede, OH Riley Wagoner, MB Skyler Williams, OH Martyna Leoniak, S Kate Lang, L Tayli Ikenaga. Leoniak makes her fifth start of the season.
>> Kate Lang opens the match with an ace and UH is off to a far better start than its last two matches. Back-to-back kills in the middle from Williams gives UH a 4-1 lead. CSUN answers to tie it at 4-4 after consecutive UH errors. Wahine match their block total on Friday with their third of the set to take an 11-7 lead. Leoniak goes off the block to give UH a 15-10 lead at the media timeout.
>> Leoniak puts goes cross court for her second and third kills of the set and is 3-for-5 so far. Riley Wagoner goes down the line to give UH a 19-13 lead. Timeout CSUN.
>> CSUN hits out and Igiede and Wagoner team up on UH’s fourth block. Leoniak’s serve is shanked. UH up 22-13 and on a 5-0 run with Leoniak on the service line. Timeout CSUN.
>> Leoniak serves up another ace down the middle to cap a six-point run. Wagoner tips a kill to give UH set point at 24-14. Both teams scramble in a long rally and CSUN finally wins it to fight off a set point. The Matadors can’t handle Wagoner’s swing from the back row and UH wins the set 25-15. Wagoner with four kills. Leoniak with three kills, two aces. UH hits. 321