The UCSB women’s volleyball team capped off the 2021 season with a big win in Hawai’i on Saturday night, downing the Big West Conference champion, the University of Hawai’i, in five sets.
The Gauchos swept the series with the Rainbow Wahine and ended the year in second place with a 21-11 overall record and a 17-3 conference mark.
The Big West’s dig champion Macall Peed was dynamite on the defensive end for the Gauchos, scooping up a career-high 27 digs to go with four assists and an ace.
Abrielle Bross led UCSB with a career-high 16 kills on a solid .314 hitting percentage
Rowan Ennis was her usual self posting another errorless line going 12-0-7 for a .706 clip, which is the 12th best performance in Gaucho history during the rally-scoring era, to go along with eight blocks.
Ennis finishes the year with a .434 hitting percentage on the season, which is the best single-season performance in Gaucho history and is good for the best in the Big West this year.
Deni Wilson saw 11 kills and seven blocks and ended the season with a .391 hitting percentage, which is the third best single-season performance by any Gaucho.
Mehana Ma’a posted a 30 assist-10 dig double-double.
And the Gauchos held the University of Hawai’i to a .194 hitting percentage
UCSB ended the year with a .267 hitting percentage, which is tied for the sixth best mark in program history.
The night began with the University of Hawai’i winning the first set 25-18.
The two teams traded punches early in the opening set until the host Rainbow Wahine began to build their lead through the middle points.
A 6-2 run saw UH take a 21-15 lead that the Gauchos could not bounce back from, and UCSB was outhit .342 to .258.
Then the tide turned, and UCSB won the second set 25-21.
The Rainbow Wahine got out to good start in the second frame, jumping out to a 9-5 lead and led by as many as five at 13-8, but UCSB found its footing and chipped away until it was tied at 20-20.
The Gauchos finished off the set on a 7-1 run capped off by a kill from Abrielle Bross that tied the match at a set apiece.
UCSB held UH to a match-low .024 hitting percentage in the set.
UCSB went on to win the third set 25-23.
Once again the two teams hung close for the front half of the third set until the Gauchos took a three-point lead at 18-15 and quickly extended it to five points at 21-16,
UH saw a run of its own to tie it at 22-22 and again at 23-23, but a kill from Tallulah Froley and a big-time block by Ennis and Tasia Farmer gave the Gauchos the set.
UH then won the fourth set 25-20. The Rainbow Waine bounced back to force a tiebreaker, jumping out to an 11-7 lead in the early going.
UCSB fought hard to end it in four, tying the match at 12 apiece but the Rainbow Wahine closed out the frame on a 6-1 run, including the last three points of the set.
Then UCSB won the fifth set 15-12.
The Gauchos wasted no time in the final set jumping out to a five-point lead at 8-3, but the host Bows notched a 4-0 run of their own to keep the decider close.
UCSB then managed to post back-to-back kills and trade points from there with Michelle Ohwobete capping off the night — and her incredible freshman season — in a huge way, finding an open spot on the floor for her 13th kill of the night.
UCSB went errorless in the set, posting a team 15-0-26 line for a .577 clip.
Daniel Moebus-Bowles works in UCSB communications/media relations.
email: sports@newspress.com
