The Wahine honor senior Mylana Byrd after sweep By Jason Kaneshiro
11/21/22, Honolulu Star-Advertiser
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Mylana Byrd was covered with lei following festivities held in her honor as UH’s lone senior. 
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Hawaii’s lone senior Mylana Byrd was introduced to the crowd after Sunday’s sweep of Cal State Bakersfield on senior night. Byrd punted an “Angry Birds” theme volleyball into the stands.As the rhythmic clap swelled in the arena, Amber Igiede gave Mylana Byrd two good-natured words of advice.
“Don’t cry.”
Byrd held her composure long enough to send one more set to Igiede, who hammered the last of her 16 kills off the Cal State Bakersfield block to punctuate Hawaii’s 80-minute sweep of the Roadrunners and the Rainbow Wahine volleyball team’s home finale.
The festivities in Byrd’s honor were just beginning as the Wahine carried the team’s lone senior at center court as they celebrated their final aloha ball of the season in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center in a 25-13, 25-10, 25-12 rout of CSUB before a crowd of 5,386.
Byrd, UH’s backup setter, saw action in all three sets in relief of starter Kate Lang and finished with 10 assists and three blocks, one solo. After a break following the match, Byrd was introduced to the crowd and punted an “Angry Birds” themed volleyball into the stands. She was then greeted on the court by her family from Texas.
“I’m definitely feeling very sentimental, feeling a little overwhelmed,” Byrd said through tears and lei stacked high on her shoulders with more draped over both arms.
“I love all the fans. There’s so much love, it can’t even be expressed how I feel for just being a part of UH, the culture, the fans and everything. I watched some seniors last year go through this moment and now it’s me and feels a little surreal.”
With the win, the Rainbow Wahine (20-6, 17-1 Big West) clinched at least a tie for first place in the conference going into the final week of the regular season.
UH heads on the road to take on second-place UC Santa Barbara (19-9, 5-3) on Friday and closes the schedule at Cal State Northridge (9-21, 4-14) on Saturday. A split of the road trip would give UH its third straight Big West title outright and the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“We’ve gotta keep playing and do what we set out to do in the beginning, which is we want to win the Big West,” UH coach Robyn Ah Mow said. “The girls are dialed.”
Save for a bit of a lull midway through the first set, senior day went according to script for the Wahine.
Igiede didn’t commit an error in her 27 attacks to hit .593 and added six blocks (two solo) and two aces. Outside hitter Riley Wagoner contributed 11 kills and 10 digs and libero Tayli Ikenaga led the UH’s back-row defense with 13 digs.
“Obviously, the focus is to win but we definitely wanted to get some gaps so (Byrd) could get in on the court,” Wagoner said. “We really appreciate everything she’s done for us and just really wanted to send her off on a good note.”
The Rainbow Wahine hit .307 while holding the visiting Roadrunners to negative-.050 as the Hawaii defense posted 10 blocks at the net and 51 digs in the back row.
In the hours leading up the match, Ah Mow sensed “just so much energy at (pregame) serve-and-pass and leading into our locker room and coming out (into the arena). It was just so much energy, and definitely it was because of Mylana.”
Byrd transferred to UH from Alabama for her junior year, which was delayed in 2020 by the pandemic. She started the first eight matches last year and played behind Lang ever since. Ah Mow praised Byrd’s attitude throughout her tenure in the program and moments like Sunday provide a payoff for Byrd’s decision to finish her career in Hawaii.
“I definitely took a leap of faith committing here,” Byrd said. “Everyone does, no one knows what’s in store. … This feels like it really solidified my decision. I’m in the right place, and my life is on the right track.”
UH jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first set before CSUB (7-23, 4-14) put together an 8-1 run. UH led 16-12 when Kendra Ham went on an eight-point service turn that included two kills and a block from Igiede and three kills from Wagoner. Byrd entered the match to a rousing ovation with UH up 22-12 and Ham then closed out the set with a kill out of the back row.
Wagoner served the final seven points of the second set with Igiede and Byrd teaming on back-to-back blocks for the final two points to give UH a 2-0 lead in the match.
UH went on an 11-1 run in the third set to open up a 20-8 lead and cruised into the senior night ceremony.
“It’s awesome we played the game we wanted and we just gave her the game that we wanted to,” Igiede said. “Mylana knew what she had to do, and it was so beautiful.”
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARADVERTISER.COM
Amber Igiede hit over a double block. Igiede hit .593 without an error.
