Time for reflection for Rainbow Wahine volleyball team

Dec. 4—Before heading into the chill of a Northern California evening, Robyn Ah Mow took a moment to reflect on a journey that began in the Texas heat.

STANFORD, Calif.—Before heading into the chill of a Northern California evening, Robyn Ah Mow took a moment to reflect on a journey that began in the Texas heat.

Close to an hour had passed since match point of a season-ending loss to LSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before the University of Hawaii women's volleyball team emerged from its locker room in Maples Pavilion.

As the second match of the doubleheader entered its second set, the Rainbow Wahine wrapped up their post-match session following the conclusion of a 22-7 season that began with three losses in the Texas A &M Invitational back in August. They left the arena with a third straight Big West championship, the program's 29th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, and motivation for 2023.

"They've definitely grown. That's why I took so long in the locker room, " Ah Mow said as the players and coaches made their way to the vans.

"They can still be better, but at the end you have to tell them from the beginning, from day one of two-a-days to now, they have definitely grown each game."

The Rainbow Wahine are slated to return 14 of the 15 players on the roster, including an eight-member junior class, and the process of building toward next season began with a writing assignment.

"In a way it's going to motivate us, " sophomore libero Tayli Ikenaga said of the loss. "(Ah Mow ) was like, 'Write in your journals everything you feel right now, everything you feel after the game, and keep looking back at it every single day and use it as motivation for next season.'"

The team returned to Honolulu on Saturday to cap the seventh road trip of a season bookended by losses to Southeastern Conference opponents.

The first came on Aug. 26 in College Station when the Rainbow Wahine turned in an impressive opening set against Texas A &M, hitting.355, then scuffled in dropping the next two. They stormed back to force a fifth before falling on the opening day of the Texas A &M Invitational.

The season finale followed a similar script. UH hit.378 in the first set against LSU and went on a late 7-1 run to take the lead in the match. The Wahine led 3-1 in the second before the errors began to stack up, with the Tigers needing just eight kills to run away with the set. UH had 15 or fewer errors in 11 matches in the regular season, but hit that number in the second set alone and tied its season high with 32 for the match.

The Wahine struggled to regain their rhythm against LSU's block and the Tigers converted on scoring opportunities set up by gritty back-row defense in the 21-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-22 win.

"It felt more tight in the second set when we were making a lot of errors and that carried over into the other sets, " UH outside hitter Riley Wagoner said.

In between the SEC defeats, the Rainbow Wahine weathered the growing pains of a 2-5 start before a reverse sweep of USC on Sept. 10 that propelled them into a 19-1 conference season and the program's 40th NCAA Tournament berth.

The comeback against USC included a "tunnel meeting " between the second and third sets that seemed to hit a reset button for the Wahine. The scene played out similarly after Cal Poly routed UH in the first set on Nov. 18 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. The Wahine allowed just 28 points over the next two sets and rallied from a 16-8 deficit in the fourth to avenge their lone Big West loss.

They closed the regular season on a 12-match winning streak and claimed four of the Big West's five major awards.

Middle blocker Amber Igiede led the conference with 4.89 points per set on her way to being voted the Big West Player of the Year. She ended the season with UH's single-season record for hitting percentage at.433, and her production and efficiency spoke to her connection with Kate Lang, recipient of the Big West's inaugural Setter of the Year award.

"I honestly feel like it should have been an award a long time ago and all these great Wahine setters would get that award, " Lang said on the eve of the LSU match.

Outside hitter Caylen Alexander posted 2.78 kills per set and was a clear choice for Freshman of the Year and Ah Mow's third straight Coach of the Year award tracked with UH's title streak.

In speaking on the growth of the team after Friday's match, Ah Mow pointed to Wagoner's emergence as a first-team All-Big West outside hitter.

"She's gone from 'OK, I'm going to be tentative on swings' to just taking swings at the end, " Ah Mow said.

"I get it, we had a lot of hitting errors (as a team against LSU ), but I would rather have those, taking aggressive swings, than just tip, block, tip, block like the beginning of the season."

The end of the season was a full circle of sorts for UH's lone senior, setter Mylana Byrd. She began her college career in the SEC, spending two years at Alabama before transferring to UH. She started the first eight matches of the 2021 season before taking a supporting role with Lang holding the starting job for the past 51 matches.

Byrd saw action in 14 matches this season, including an emotional solo senior day win over Cal State Bakersfield win two weeks ago. She entered Friday's match in relief of Lang and posted a block to raise UH's hopes of a comeback in the fourth set.

"They're sad for her that she's leaving, " Ah Mow said. "They understand that she has been a big part of the team. Her attitude, not playing that much, they understand. They know what she gave off the court and back there on the bench, and not every player is like that."