Rainbow Wahine continue win streak, downing Central Arkansas, 3-0

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The University of Hawaii at Manoa Rainbow Wahine continued their winning streak Friday after sweeping the University of Central Arkansas.

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The ‘Bows battled it out at the Bankoh Area at Stan Shierf Center for another round with the Sugar Bears and earned their fifth straight win, improving to 6-2.

The Rainbow Wahine downed the Sugar Bears 25-14, 25-20. UCA did not go down willingly, and both teams battled on the Teraflex, with 18 ties in the third set alone. UH won the extended third set 28-26.

It’s the longest win streak since a late-season stretch of seven wins in 2023.

First-year head coach Joshua Walker said the team is still trying to find their identity.

“We had some things early. We’re trying to continue to find our identity and make sure we’re steady. That showed up first two sets. They kept playing better. This crowd pulled us through the last set,” Walker told K5’s Ryan Kalei Tsuji.

Senior outside hitter Panna Ratkai scored a match-high 15 kills, her fifth straight match with double-figure kills. Middle blocker Miliana Sylvester finished with eight kills, surpassed 500 career kills and contributed a team-high four blocks.

Libero Victoria Leyva had 15 digs on the night, 31 in the series, while Setter Adrianna Arquette had 34 assists, eight digs and two kills.

Meanwhile, in her debut match, freshman Mano Antiga accounted for nine kills on the night and was surprised to be playing Friday.

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“I was not expecting it,” she said. “I was nervous. I mean, I did what I did in practice. Just kept playing the game.”

The freshman from Poland said that although she’s only been in Hawaii for a few months, she’s grateful to be here.

“Everyone’s so welcoming. It’s an amazing opportunity. I’m grateful,” she said.

Walker commended the freshman for her hard work and patience.

“I wanted to make sure she goes out there. She had an opportunity to contribute in a meaningful way. She’s been working hard for that, did a good job,” he said.

The Rainbow Wahine are headed to Las Vegas for their first road trip of the season in the Lucky Aces Women’s Volleyball Invitational on Sept. 18-20.

The ‘Bows take on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to open the tournament and will also see Iowa State and UCLA.

“All those teams are going to be good. All those teams have tournament aspirations, so do we, so for us, how can we travel? We know we’re going to have a lot of support out there, need the fans to come out to Vegas to support us, but it’s another test.”

As for Walker’s “sweep dance,” he said he’ll need to figure out more dances, but the team has to keep earning more sweeps.

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