Rainbow Wahine’s season ends with senior night loss

Saturday’s regular-season finale against Long Beach State wasn’t just the last home game for three Rainbow Wahine seniors.

For the first time in more than 30 years, senior night was aloha ball for the entire roster as Hawaii’s season came to a quick end in a 25-18, 23-25, 25-23, 25-16 loss to Long Beach State.

A season-high crowd of 5,137 at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center learned earlier in the day that it was win or stay home for the Rainbow Wahine after UC Irvine upset Cal Poly in three sets to force UH to have to play its way into the Outrigger Big West Women’s Volleyball Championship.

Hawaii managed to take a set off the Beach (21-8, 14-4) for the first time this season, but ultimately didn’t have the firepower to stay with LBSU, which earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament with the win.

“Frustrated and angry, but it is what it is, that’s how our season was going,” Hawaii coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “Definitely disappointed.”

Senior Bri Gunderson set a UH career high in kills with 16 and fellow senior Tyla Reese Mane added 14 kills and five digs.

Freshman Cha’lei Reid added 13 kills and nine digs.

Logan King had a match-high 18 kills and Rhiann Sheffie added 15 and hit 480 for Long Beach State, which snapped a nine-match losing streak to the Rainbow Wahine in Hawaii.

“Obviously not the outcome we expected, but right now, soaking in all of the love,” said Gunderson, who along with Mane and Morghn Monahan were the three seniors honored after the match. “I think that we can’t be mad with our performance. We really did leave it all out on the floor and that’s kind of what we talked about before the game. I’m proud of how we battled through stuff.”

Hawaii ends a streak of 31 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances dating back to 1992.

The final numbers from the season are staggering for a team that had won nine of 12 Big West Conference championships since rejoining the league in 2012.

UH had never finished worse than second in its current BWC run that ended against the Beach.

Hawaii’s 12-17 overall record is the first losing season in school history and the gap between the Rainbow Wahine and the top teams in the conference was stunning.

UH finished 0-8 against the four highest seeds in the Outrigger Big West Women’s Volleyball Championships. In those eight loses, UH was only able to win four sets.

“I am somewhat satisfied with the way we played tonight,” Mane said. “Although we got the loss, we showed a lot of fight and a lot of heart and that is something that I can be proud of.”

Hawaii played one of its better offensive sets in the opening frame, hitting .379 with only three errors.

Reid and Mane each had five kills and hit better than .500, but the Beach topped that by hitting .407 as a team.

UH outblocked LBSU, but the difference was at the service line, where the Beach recorded five aces to Hawaii’s two.

Reid continued her efficient play in the second set with more kills, including one on UH’s second set point to even the match up.

UH hit .180 with eight errors and three service errors, but pulled it out by holding the Beach to a .122 hitting percentage. Gunderson was in on five of UH’s six blocks through two sets.

The Beach pulled out a critical third set that ended with a UH serving error and then a service receive error.

LBSU successfully challenged an out ball saying it was tipped at the net to take a 23-22 lead.

Gunderson responded with a kill before two crucial UH mistakes allowed Long Beach State to take the lead.

“That lapse that we’ve had all season, that one lapse, five-point run, six-point run, those are the ones,” Ah Mow said. “We tried to get them some energy, get them back in it. The fight was there sometimes.”

LBSU put the match away with 16 kills in the fourth set. The Beach scored the final four points and held UH to a .114 hitting percentage with six errors.

Sophomore libero Victoria Leyva had a match-high 17 digs and two of the Rainbow Wahine’s three aces. UH ended the night with 12 service errors.