At 2-4 in Big West play, there’s no more room for error for the Hawaii women’s volleyball team. Urgency is now the key word for the Rainbow Wahine volleyball squad, which has lost three straight matches and seven of its last nine heading into a critical three-game road trip. This stretch will have severe implications on UH’s chances to qualify for the six-team Big West Conference tournament at the end of the season.
Hawaii (6-11 overall) begins the road trip tied for sixth place with three other teams, just one game out of last place. The longest trip away from home this season starts today at the Walter Pyramid against Long Beach State (13-5, 6-1).
Long Beach State’s only loss in conference play came last weekend in four sets at league-leading UC Davis, which also handed UH a four-set defeat earlier this season.
“I think it’s time to go, right?” senior middle blocker Bri Gunderson said before the team departed for Southern California on Wednesday. “We’ve already lost four games now, and it’s now or never if we want to get into the Big West Conference tournament at the end of the year. That’s our goal, to get in and just do what we can from there, but it’s definitely time to go.”
Following Stella Adeyemi’s season-ending injury at UCLA, the Rainbow Wahine experimented with different lineups. This included moving Gunderson—who was leading the conference in total blocks at the time—to opposite hitter. She moved back to middle blocker during last week’s two-match homestand and responded strongly, tallying 20 kills in seven sets and, perhaps even more importantly, seven blocks, including six in Sunday’s four-set loss to UC Santa Barbara.
“It was kind of a fish out of water, and we knew she wasn’t used to the position,” assistant coach Nick Castello said Tuesday. “But at the same time, we don’t put players in boxes. She’s a volleyball player capable of playing multiple positions. In the end, she is so valuable for us in the middle. You’ve got to pick and choose your poison, and putting her back in the middle definitely makes her feel more comfortable.”
One more loss this season would match the most losses in single-season history for the program, dating back to 1985 (28-12) and 1992 (12-12). The 1992 team is also the last to fail to reach the NCAA Tournament.
Although UH lost in four sets to the Gauchos on Saturday, the Rainbow Wahine got encouraging performances from the pin hitters they will have to rely on the rest of the way. Freshman Cha’lei Reid, who had hit negative four times in her previous six matches, looked healthy for the first time in weeks, hitting .382 with 15 kills. Senior Tyla Reese Mane had a strong weekend, hitting .345 and .346 in back-to-back matches with the first two double-figure kill efforts of her career.
“I feel like when certain players are on, it definitely helps us,” Castello said. “A player like Ty, when she is having a good night, she puts us in a better position to get the results we want. If we can get two arms going—whether from pins or middle blockers—it definitely helps us out.”
Sophomore libero Victoria Leyva, 17 matches into her sophomore season, reached 500 career digs Sunday against UCSB. UH setter Adrianna Arquette is one of two players in the Big West with multiple triple-doubles this season.
Hawaii has won the past four meetings against Long Beach State and holds an 18-17 all-time record at the Pyramid. LBSU entered the week leading the conference in kills per set (13.84) and blocks per set (2.56) and defeated UC San Diego on Thursday night. The Tritons have never defeated the Rainbow Wahine. Sophomore Audrey Hollis, who played at UCSD last season and made the All-Big West Freshman team as a setter, will be part of that UC San Diego team.
UH’s road trip concludes on Tuesday at UC Irvine.
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### Rainbow Wahine Volleyball Schedule
**At Walter Pyramid, Long Beach, Calif.**
**HAWAII (6-11, 2-4 BIG WEST) VS. LONG BEACH STATE (13-5, 6-1)**
Today, 3 p.m.
**HAWAII VS. UC SAN DIEGO (4-15, 2-5)**
At LionTree Arena, La Jolla, Calif.
Saturday, 3 p.m.
**TV:** ESPNU (Today’s match)
**Stream:** ESPN+ (Saturday’s match)
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