The No. 25 Waves lost both of their matches to No. 4 Hawaii in Honolulu Sept. 18 and 19. The Waves (7-5) took on the Rainbow Wahine (9-2) at the Stan Sherriff Center.
This was the Waves’ third loss in a row and according to head coach Nina Matthies Hawaii has earned their No.4 spot in American Volleyball Coach’s Association rankings.
Pepperdine lost the first match in three games 18-25 20-25 and 21-25.
The offense was led by sophomore outside hitter Lilla Frederick who smashed 13 kills and senior outside hitter Rachel Grochmal who had nine kills but it wasn’t enough to avoid the sweep.
Nine blocks by Hawaii’s Brittany Hewitt kept the Waves’ offense in check.
Pepperdine had a strong defensive effort against the Rainbow Wahine digging 31 balls between sophomore libero Stevi Robinson (18) and Frederick (13).
The first set began with the Waves down 3-13 a large hole to climb out of. The Rainbow Wahine later extended their lead to 22-9 and although the Waves pushed hard to catch up from the early gap the first game ended with a Pepperdine loss 18-25.
After the first game the Waves heated up but still ended the second set with a loss at 20-25. Pepperdine was able to take the lead at 7-5 but a six-point run by the Rainbow Wahine brought the score to 11-8. up. The game was close throughout but Hawaii pulled ahead to win by five points.
Despite the loss Matthies saw some positive aspects of the Waves’ play.
“We settled down during [the second match] on Friday and we played incredible defense Matthies said. When we served and played well we kept them in check.”
The final game went point-to-point until 15-15 when Rainbow Wahine pulled ahead to finish the night at 25-21.
Matthies attributes the loss to poor teamwork and lack of energy.
“We started out Friday night really slow and we were just making some errors and we responded poorly as a group Matthies said.
On Saturday, the Waves recorded their second loss of the weekend, in another short three-game match, with scores of 17-25, 17-25 and 17-25.
With momentum from the previous night, the match began similarly to Friday’s, with an early Hawaii lead.
The Waves were able to momentarily take the lead at 13-12, but after a seven-point run by Hawaii, the Waves would not see the lead again.
The second set was also taken by Hawaii, at 25-17, following an early 6-2 lead for the Rainbow Wahine.
In the final game of the two-match series, the Waves trailed early, 2-7.
They almost closed the gap, at 14-15, but Hawaii scored yet another six points to gain an uncatchable lead over the Waves.
The final game’s score was 17-25, and, for the second straight night, the Rainbow Wahine defeated Pepperdine in three sets. Hawaii outplayed Pepperdine with a total of 44 kills, 44 digs, seven aces and seven blocks. Pepperdine had 28 kills, 40 digs, two aces and four blocks.
This was the Wave’s third loss in a row, but head coach Nina Matthies still saw it as a success.
We played much better on Saturday night but [Hawaii] just kicked it in gear and they just took it up two notches Matthies said.
The Waves start West Coast Conference play Oct. 1 with a match against St. Mary’s at 7 p.m. at Firestone Fieldhouse.
