Story by
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Rainbow Wahine turn back the determined Lions at home
- Story byThe Honolulu Star-Advertiser
- Rainbow Wahine turn back the determined Lions at home
The Hawaii women's volleyball team has found its go-to player in the clutch.
Senior Panna Ratkai had five kills and two aces in the decisive fifth set and the Rainbow Wahine avoided a reverse sweep with a 25-10, 25-18, 22-25, 26-28, 15-11 win over Loyola Marymount to hand the Lions their first loss of the season in the Outrigger Invitational on Friday night at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
Advertisement
Ratkai, who had three kills and a block in the final six points of the third set of Thursday's sweep of Utah Tech, finished with a match-high 21 kills, 10 digs and three aces before a crowd of 3,463 to keep Hawaii (3-2) as the only undefeated team in the tourney after two days.
UH will conclude the tournament on Sunday against UC San Diego (2-3) after a day off today.
"Really happy," said junior libero Victoria Leyva, who tied a career high with 29 digs. "I've got a homework assignment due in like an hour, but it's going to be good to take a day off, go support the (football) boys, and take the time to replenish our bodies and be ready to come out against a hungry UC San Diego team that is coming off two losses."
UH setter Adrianna Arquette finished with 45 assists and 10 digs and again found success setting the middles.
Advertisement
Miliana Sylvester had 13 kills and three blocks and Rachel Purser had 10 kills in 18 swings without an error.
Kahea Moriwaki added a career-high 15 digs.
Nicole Schuetz had 18 kills to lead the Lions (4-1), who lost the decisive set despite hitting .400 without an error.
Hawaii had four of its 10 aces in the fifth set, which began with the officials calling UH for a delay of game for getting its lineup in late.
"We just wanted to make sure we got it right," Hawaii coach Joshua Walker said. "We had started pretty much in the same rotation in the first four sets. As we went on in the match they kind of started steadying out on us and they knew what servers were on them and we just tried to flip it a little bit to get our hitter (Ratkai) in the front row. It kind of changed the momentum."
Advertisement
Hawaii stormed out of the tunnel for the second straight night and took a 15-5 lead at the first media timeout with 10 kills and no errors.
Purser put down each of her first four swings and Sylvester added three kills and two blocks in the opening half of the set while the Lions struggled to find any hitting lanes against the UH block.
Nothing changed after the timeout, as UH finished the set outscoring the Lions by 15 points.
Purser put down the final kill to finish a perfect 6-for-6 in attacks and Sylvester added five kills and two blocks for Hawaii, which hit .471. The Lions hit negative.
Hawaii led 15-12 at the media timeout in the second set when a Lions service error ended a 3-0 LMU run to help get the Lions back into the set.
Advertisement
Tali Hakas put down a kill and Ratkai had back-to-back kills to give UH a 20-13 lead.
Sylvester added three more kills in the set and UH remained at a hitting percentage of more than .400 to take a 2-0 sets lead.
"I think a lot of it came from my team. They did a really good job following the scout and making sure the block was lined up good," Leyva said. "We pretty much knew what LMU was going to be running, so it made it a lot easier for me to do my job."
The third set was tied 15 times, with the last coming at 22-all on a hitting error by UH.
The Rainbow Wahine, who led 22-21 in the set, gave up three straight points on three hitting errors by UH to face match point.
Advertisement
Hawaii again looked unsure of itself, and on the second set point, Maria Tabacuks closed out the kill to avoid a sweep and force a fourth set.
UH led 12-11 in the fourth set before a 6-1 run by the Lions prompted UH to call timeout down 17-13.
Hawaii challenged a touch call on the black at 20-16 that was overturned in its favor, turning a four-point deficit to two.
Ratkai followed with a kill to pull UH within a point at 19-18 and the two teams went to deuce at 24-all on a kill by Maeli Cormier.
Hawaii briefly had the match won at 27-25, but LMU challenged an in call that was ruled out, revering the score to 26-all. The Lions followed that up with two points to force a fifth set.
Advertisement
"I think it was just a credit to LMU. They found a way to start being consistent," Walker said. "We obviously didn't get a lot of blocks. All of a sudden there was a shift, but a lot of credit to (the Rainbow Wahine) for steadying out and not panicking and not getting too tense at the end."
Sunday's tournament finale will feature two first-time head coaches with Hawaii ties in Walker and UCSD's Spencer McLachlin, a Punahou alum.
Utah Tech 3, UC San Diego 2
Nana Asiata led three players in double figures with 16 kills and the Trailblazers (3-2) bounced back from getting swept in their tournament opener against Hawaii with a 25-19, 25-20, 19-25, 22-25, 15-13 win over the Toreros (2-3).
Advertisement
Kamehameha alumna Marley Roe added 25 assists and 10 digs and Kaleinani Watson, another Kamehameha graduate, had seven digs, six assists and two aces for Utah Tech.
Ireland McNees had 21 kills and Molly McCluskey hit .457 with 18 kills for UCSD, which dropped the two first two sets before battling back to force a fifth.
Utah Tech called timeout after the Tritons scored back-to-back points in the fifth set to tie it at 13-all. Asiata responded with a kill and a UCSD hitting error ended it.
