FULLERTON, Calif. - Cal State Fullerton fell behind early and never recovered as they dropped a 3-0 (22-25, 14-25, 18-25) Big West Conference decision to visiting Hawai'i Saturday night at Titan Gym.
The Titans (7-15, 1-8) hit just .094 against the Rainbow Wahine (16-5, 8-2), who recorded a .278 hitting percentage en route to their fourth consecutive victory.
For the Titans, Mackenzie Olsen dished out 25 assists to go along with six digs, four shy of recording her second straight double-double and sixth of the season. Megan Kurz and Niki Withers each led the offense with 11 kills apiece, tallying 22 of the Titans' 33 total kills on the night. Paige Reed led the defense with 17 digs, her fourth straight match with 17-plus digs.
The Rainbow Wahine were led by Olivia Magill's eight kills and .727 hitting percentage. Magill did not have an error in 11 attacks and she also added four blocks. Nikki Taylor, Kalei Greeley and Kalei Adolpho added seven kills apiece, with Taylor also leading the team's efforts at the net with six blocks (one solo).
The Titans fell behind by three early in the first set before scoring four of the next five points to tie the score at 6-6. The Rainbow Wahine answered with three straight points to regain the cushion and were able to keep the Titans at arm's length the rest of the way to take a 1-0 lead in the match. Neither squad hit particularly well in the frame with the Titans posting a .152 percentage while the Rainbow Wahine hit at a .182 clip. Each team recorded 20 digs in the frame with Reed tallying six of her 17 in the set.
In the second set, the Titans got four kills out of Kurz but the rest of the team combined for just four kills and six errors in 23 attempts. Hawai'i would capitalize on the errors and used a 12-3 scoring run to run away with the frame and take a commanding 2-0 lead.
The third set was the tightest of the match as the teams were tied eight times and traded the lead twice. The Titans took a 10-9 advantage in the game after a service error by the Rainbow Wahine. But Hawai'i put together a 9-2 scoring run to retake the lead and they never looked back to clinch the match and secure the season sweep over the Titans.
Fullerton will hit the road on Friday as the Titans travel to UC Santa Barbara on Friday, Nov. 7 followed by a trip to Cal Poly the next night.
Notes: The Titans tallied eight blocks on the night, led by freshman Stephanie Buss with three. Buss leads the team this season with 72 blocks (nine solo)… Holland Crenshaw had four kills and one block on the night for Fullerton… Saturday was Fullerton's first three-set match since they lost at Hawai'i in straight sets on Oct. 3.