Ever since it joined the Big West in 2012, the University of Hawai‘i women's volleyball program was the conference's dominant force all the way until 2025, its final year before departing for the Mountain West. The Rainbow Wahine sputtered through a 12-17 campaign, their streak of 31 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and five straight Big West Championships snapped.
Under new head Joshua Walker, the 'Bows have already surpassed their 2025 win total, as a 25-14, 25-14, 25-21 sweep over San Jose State on Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center improved the 'Bows to 13-3 for the 2026 season.
Despite being newcomers in the Mountain West, the Rainbow Wahine are 5-0 in conference matches, the only unbeaten team in the standings. The 'Bows haven't even lost a set in Mountain West play with series sweeps over New Mexico and Grand Canyon.
On Friday night, the Rainbow Wahine hit a clean .369 despite missing junior outside hitter Tali Hakas, who was ruled out prior to the match with her left foot in a boot. Kahuku alumna Cha'lei Reid had a match-high 13 kills for the 'Bows, while Panna Ratkai added 12 kills and Maeli Cormier had 10 on 15 swings to finish with a hitting percentage of .600.
"Good team effort, just love the poise, especially obviously having one of our leaders go down and everybody just kind of stepped up and made sure that we took care of business," Walker said following the match.
While Hakas was sidelined, the team benefitted from a breakout performance from Reid, who has only planed in eight of the team's 16 contests due to an injury suffered early in the season.
"Oh, I'm back back," Reid said on Friday. "It's been good. Definitely still working and making sure I'm warm and just prepping for games and practices. It's super good, I'm 110% back."
As of one eight returnees from the 2025 team, Reid has certainly noticed a vibe shift among the team. Winning breeds positive morale, and the 'Bows are determined to hold on to the positivity.
"The vibe's been amazing," Reid said. "I think we're all super hungry to keep getting better. Like yes, we have a good record, but we still have a lot more to go. I think we're just pushing each other every day and being able to compete in the gym and compete in the game, so it's been super good."
Hawai‘i will finish out its week with a rematch against San Jose State at 7 p.m. on Saturday. The Rainbow Wahine have 13 matches left in their regular season schedule to close out the 18-match conference slate.
Though he prefers to focus on his own team rather than peruse the conference scoreboard, Walker was able to get an important message across to his team following a UC Davis loss to New Mexico on Thursday that put the Rainbow Wahine alone in first place.
"I don't really look at other standings as much, but last night was significant because now we're the only team that's controlling our own destiny," Walker said. "That's all we needed. That's confirmed. Now, it's up to us. How bad do we want it? Do we want to finish? That's the goal for us now. Now it's completely on our side of net. We know we can control our own destiny. That's all that happened yesterday. Glad we came out tonight and we got another sweep."
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
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