The Hawai’i Rainbow Wahine have been selected to go for four in a row to repeat as Big West champions in the 2023 Big West Women’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Poll, according to a vote of the league’s 11 head coaches.
Conference victors in five of the last seven contested seasons, Hawai’i (22-7, 19-1 BW) topped the polling with a maximum 100 points and 10 first-place votes. Nationally, UH received votes in the AVCA/Teraflex preseason poll, compiling 49 points which would place the team in 31st.
The Rainbow Wahine led the way on the Preseason All-Big West Team as well, with three selections on the eight-person squad.
The grouping is headlined by returning Big West Player of the Year Amber Igiede. Garnering third-team All-American status, Igiede led The Big West in several statistical categories in 2022 highlighted by a single-season school-record hitting percentage of .433 (406-73-769) which ranked fifth in all of Division I. The native of Baton Rouge, La., averaged 4.89 points, 3.79 kills and 1.29 blocks per set, tallying career-high totals of 523.5 points, 406 kills, 29 aces and 138 blocks. Igiede was one of four UH student-athletes to start all 29 matches and appear in all 107 sets for the Rainbow Wahine.
2022 Freshman of the Year Caylen Alexander is back to help Igiede on offense after averaging 2.78 kills and 1.18 digs per set and a team-best 33 aces. Alexander recorded a trio of triple-double efforts from the outside hitter position and claimed Big West Freshman of the Week a league-best six times.
Kate Lang, the reigning Big West Setter of the Year, directs the squad and finished second in The Big West at 10.24 assists per set, having dished out a career-best 1,102 assists over 107 frames. The junior out of Keller, Texas, reached the 2,000-assist career milestone in Hawai’i’s first-round match in the 2022 NCAA Championship.
The 2022 Big West runners-up UC Santa Barbara (20-10, 16-4 BW) are again slotted in second, compiling 83 total points in the voting. The Gauchos hold the slimmest of margins over third pick Long Beach State (19-9, 14-6 BW) and fourth-place vote-getter Cal Poly (17-13, 14-6 BW) with one point separating each place. The Beach received the other first-place vote from the coaches, tallying 82 points.
Two UC Santa Barbara players earned preseason team distinction with Macall Peed and Michelle Ohwobete landing on the listings. Ohwobete earned a second-straight nod on the All-Big West first team in 2022, after averaging a team-best 3.23 kills per set for the Gauchos. Peed, the 2022 Big West Libero of the Year, returns for a senior campaign after eclipsing the 1,000 career dig mark in the 2022 season finale. Peed closed the year averaging 4.28 digs per set to anchor the defense, also adding 28 service aces and 116 assists.
Long Beach State is represented on the Preseason All-Big West team by redshirt sophomore setter Zayna Meyer. The Weaton, Ill., product averaged a conference-best 10.33 assists per set in a first year for the Beach, finishing with 1,074 assists. Meyer served up 28 aces and averaged 2.33 digs per set to help LBSU to a tie for third in the league standings in 2022.
Cal Poly’s Tommi Stockham paced the Mustangs with 3.79 kills per set last season, earning a second-consecutive All-Big West first team selection. Last year, the Mustangs were the only Big West side to knock off Hawai’i, upending the Rainbow Wahine on Oct. 15 in San Luis Obispo. The Mustangs hold onto fourth in the preseason poll, and are the only team since 2015 to wrest the top spot away from Hawai’i in the final standings, taking home The Big West title in 2017 and ’18.
UC Davis came in fifth in the voting after compiling 61 points. The final preseason team selection went to Aggies’ junior Olivia Utterback. The opposite hitter started all 30 matches for UC Davis serving up a team-best 35 aces to go along with 2.84 points and 2.25 kills per set in 2022.
UC Davis is followed in the polling by UC Irvine (54 points). Should the preseason prognostications ring true, the Anteaters will claim the sixth and final spot in the inaugural
2023 Big West Women’s Volleyball Championship, set for Nov. 22-25 from Long Beach State’s Walter Pyramid. The Top six teams in the regular-season standings will compete for The Big West’s automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship.
UC Dan Diego (42 points) lands in seventh, with Cal State Bakersfield (33) and Cal State Fullerton (32) separated by one point for eighth and ninth. CSUN (27) and UC Riverside (10) round out the preseason picks.
First serve across The Big West is set for Friday, Aug. 25, with all 11 teams in action. Big West play on courts across the conference is set to start on Tuesday, Sept. 19, and Long Beach State and Hawai’i face off in a nationally-televised contest on Sept. 29.
All told, over 125 women’s volleyball broadcasts across The Big West landscape will also be available to fans through ESPN+ throughout the year.
Click here for upcoming listings to watch all 11 Big West member-institutions in action.
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2023 Big West Women’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Poll
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Rank
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Institution
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Points
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1.
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Hawai’i
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100 (10)
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2.
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UC Santa Barbara
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83
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3.
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Long Beach State
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82 (1)
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4.
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Cal Poly
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81
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5.
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UC Davis
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61
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6.
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UC Irvine
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54
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7.
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UC San Diego
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42
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8.
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Cal State Bakersfield
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33
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9.
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Cal State Fullerton
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32
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10.
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CSUN
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27
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11.
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UC Riverside
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10
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First-place votes in parentheses
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2023 Big West Women’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Team
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Student-Athlete
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Year
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Position
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Institution
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Hometown
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Caylen Alexander
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So.
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Outside Hitter
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Hawai’i
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Alpharetta, Ga.
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Amber Igiede
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Sr.
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Middle Blocker
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Hawai’i
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Baton Rouge, La.
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Kate Lang
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Jr.
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Setter
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Hawai’i
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Keller, Texas
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Zayna Meyer
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R-So.
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Setter
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Long Beach State
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Wheaton, Ill.
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Michelle Ohwobete
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Sr.
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Outside Hitter
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UC Santa Barbara
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Oakland, Calif.
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Macall Peed
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Sr.
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Libero
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UC Santa Barbara
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San Diego, Calif.
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Tommi Stockham
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R-Jr.
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Outside Hitter
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Cal Poly
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Las Vegas, Nevada
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Olivia Utterback
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Jr.
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Opposite Hitter
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UC Davis
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Plainfield, Ind.
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