fortunes of the Hawaii women’s volleyball team have swung wildly for much of the 2024 season, the Rainbow
Wahine have consistently fallen back on a couple of program stalwarts in times of need.
Setter Kate Lang and libero Tayli Ikenaga have pretty much seen it all and, for a younger crop of teammates, have been a steady senior presence for UH as it has
navigated some turbulence on the way to what it hopes will be a 31st consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.
We’ve had our ups and downs,” Ikenaga said this week. “We’re still trying to navigate. As we’re … almost at the end, we’re at a point that we know what we need to do.”
The two seniors will be traditionally honored this week following two pivotal home matches at the Stan Sheriff Center, against Long Beach State on Friday and UC San Diego on Saturday night.
Both matches could test the Wahine. LBSU (16-9, 10-5 Big West) and UCSD (16-10, 10-5) are only a half-game behind UH (16-8, 10-4). UC Davis (16-8, 11-4) beat CSUN on Thursday night to move a half-game up on UH and Cal Poly (17-8, 10-4).
UH concludes the regular season with matches at Cal State Fullerton (4-20, 0-14) and UC Irvine (14-11, 8-6) next week leading into the Big West tournament at UCI. Only the top six qualify, meaning one of UCD, UH, LBSU, UCSD, CP, UCI and UC Santa Barbara (12-14, 8-6) will be left out.
“These next two weekends are big. We really need to dial down and focus,” coach Robyn Ah Mow said on Wednesday.
The Wahine are coming off a trip that showcased some of their worst (the program’s first-ever loss to UC Riverside) and best (a four-set win over Davis to move back into a share of first).
Asked if the trip encapsulated the team’s ups and downs, Lang replied, “Maybe a little bit, to the public. I think that encapsules the entirety of this conference throughout the years of playing here. This conference is scrappy and kind of a wild card sometimes.
“Anybody can win on any given night.”
UH has unintentionally, and sometimes frustratingly made that into the mantra of the season; it has played 10 five-setters, over which it has gone 6-4. That is the most times it has gone the distance since the 1984 Wahine did so 12 times.
Despite that, Lang, who arrived in Hawaii from Keller, Texas, just prior to the pandemic-canceled 2020 season, said this year has gone by the quickest of any of her five.
It has been about growth and patience, she said, for everyone involved — herself, her teammates and her coaches. She has had a prolific target in Caylen Alexander, who is among the nation’s leaders in kills, but she has also had to bring along some inexperienced middles and pin hitters.
“This year was just about trusting our teammates and trusting our coaches that they’ve prepared us to be successful,” Lang said.
Lang is the third UH setter to accumulate 4,000 assists and 1,000 digs, along with Kanoe Kamana‘o and Martina Cincerova. She entered the week leading the Big West in total assists (1,046) and assists per set (10.46). Those were good for 10th and 27th in the nation, respectively.
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