STANFORD, Calif. — The University of Hawai’i women’s volleyball team opened its first road trip of the season with a 25-19, 25-18, 25-20 loss to No. 4 Stanford on Friday at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif.
The Rainbow Wahine (4-5) battled back from an early six-point deficit to tie the first set at 17-17 before the host Cardinal (7-2) broke away to take the set on their way to completing the sweep in the first meeting between the programs since 2012.
Stanford represented UH’s highest ranked opponent since the Rainbow Wahine faced No. 1 Minnesota in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. The Cardinal hit .262 to UH’s .179 and halted the ‘Bows’ four-match winning streak.
The ‘Bows outblocked the Cardinal 8-4 with sophomore Miliana Sylvester in on six blocks and Tyla Reese Mane contributing on three. Libero Victoria Leyva again sparked UH’s back-row defense with a team-high 14 digs.
Freshman Cha’lei Reid led the UH attack with 10 kills in her sixth double-figure performance in nine matches this season. Stella Adeyemi finished with eight kills against just one error and came up with 11 digs. Sylvester finished with five kills without an error in 12 attacks to hit .417.
Stanford’s Elia Rubin, a first-team AVCA All-American last season, led the Cardinal with 16 kills and had 13 digs. Lizzy Andrew added 12 kills on 17 attempts.
Stanford jumped out to a 13-7 lead in the opening set before UH went on a run to close to 15-14. The ‘Bows caught the Cardinal at 17-17 on a kill by Sylvester, but Stanford reclaimed control and closed the set with an 8-2 surge to take the lead in the match.
Stanford again jumped ahead early in the second, opening up a 9-3 lead and maintaining control while hitting .326 for the set.
The Cardinal went up 10-5 in the third and pulled away to lead 23-14. The ‘Bows put together their longest run of the night with a 6-0 surge with Leilani Lopez on the service line. Reid sparked the run with a kill then teamed with Sylvester on a block. Mane sent back another block for UH’s fifth straight point and Reid’s kill cut the deficit to 23-20. Rubin halted the run with her final kill and Logan Parks closed out the match for the Cardinal.
The Rainbow Wahine next face UCLA on Saturday at 2 p.m. Pacific Time (11 a.m. Hawai’i Time) in the 79th all-time meeting between the longtime rivals. UCLA held off Texas State in four sets (25-19, 20-25, 25-22, 28-26) in Friday’s first match at Maples Pavilion.
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