MĀNOA — They don't know where the banner came from. All they know is that its theirs.
After the University of Hawai‘i women's volleyball team's 25-17, 25-22, 23-25, 25-22 victory over Air Force at the Stan Sheriff Center on Thursday night, the Rainbow Wahine clinched the Mountain West Conference regular season title outright, along with the top seed in the conference tournament that comes with it. A green banner declaring the 'Bows champions was promptly given to the team, leading to some impromptu group photos.
In their debut year in the Mountain West under first-time head coach Joshua Walker, the Rainbow Wahine have immediately entrenched themselves as the league's cream of the crop.
"I had a lot of success as a [UH] player, and me coming as a coach, one of my biggest goals was to have them have a great experience. I do it because I want them to come to the University of Hawai‘i and just have a great experience playing here, playing for our fan base, playing for each other," Walker said after Thursday's match. "So, I'm just really happy that the work they put in, they've been able to see the results right away."
Though the Rainbow Wahine appeared headed towards another sweep, Air Force took the third set, handing the 'Bows their first set loss at home since Sept. 6 against UC San Diego, snapping a streak of 34 straight sets won on the Stan Sheriff Center teraflex.
Air Force had a 13-10 lead in Set 4, but the Rainbow Wahine took over behind the right arm of Cha'lei Reid, who finished with a match-high 20 kills.
"I'm just having fun out there," Reid said. "Definitely being able to connect with [setter Adrianna Arquette] and knowing that the back row and the cover is there for me. I think just being able to be comfortable and trusting my team and in my teammates, it's been pretty fun. Just staying loose and playing my game. It's been fun."
The Rainbow Wahine improved to 22-4 overall and 14-1 in Mountain West play on Thursday night. With three regular season matches remaining, the 'Bows clinched over UC Davis and Grand Canyon, who were both 10-5 in Mountain West matches following Thursday's action. With each passing match, UH has put a 12-17 campaign in 2025 further in the rearview, one in which it didn't even qualify for the Big West tournament.
"When we started the season, we set our goals of what we wanted to accomplish, and it wasn't necessarily winning the Mountain West, but we also talked about the consistency and discipline that we wanted to do it with, and I think we've had great spurts of it show throughout the whole season," junior libero Victoria Leyva said. "I think one of the biggest things has been relying on each other as a team, that cohesion factor, and then we've had the great coaching staff as well to support that, just to continue to push that effort forward. Props to everybody out there. We're working really hard behind the scenes, and it's just great to see the product come out."
The Rainbow Wahine have one remaining home match, another Friday contest against Air Force at 7 p.m. Following Friday's mach, the Rainbow Wahine will honor seniors Leilani Lopez, Panna Ratkai and Tali Hakas.
Hawai‘i wraps up regular season play with two matches at UTEP on Nov. 18-19, then will face an opponent to be determined in the Mountain West semifinals on Nov. 24.
Christian Shimabuku can be reached at christian@alohastatedaily.com.
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