A painful trip to the Bay Area concluded with the Hawaii women’s volleyball team’s four-set loss to Texas State on Sunday morning.

UH went 0-3 in the Stanford Tournament with the 25-16, 25-20, 19-25, 25-22 loss to the Bobcats, a Sun Belt Conference team that is leaving for the Pac-12 in 2026.

In addition, there could be lasting damage; junior hitter Stella Adeyemi went down with a lower leg injury in Saturday’s sweep loss to UCLA and did not appear Sunday.

Robyn Ah Mow’s Rainbow Wahine head back having concluded their nonconference season at 4-7.

UH has struggled in pre-conference play under Ah Mow before. It went 3-5 in nonconference in 2021 and 2022, but both times Wahine responded in the Big West with conference records of 18-2 and 19-1.

This time, BWC success seems far less assured. With hitter Tali Hakas out for the season with a shoulder injury and Adeyemi’s status in doubt, Ah Mow and her staff could have to get creative to extend their run of consecutive NCAA Tournaments to a 32nd edition.

UH’s final season of Big West play begins at home Friday against UC Riverside. The Highlanders (4-6) are coming off a 2-0 performance at UNLV’s Dig in the Desert tournament, with four-set wins over the host Rebels and Southern Utah.

Against TSU (5-6) on Sunday, middle Bri Gunderson shifted to the pins and posted 12 kills to go with six blocks. But Ravyn Dash, a Houston Christian transfer who got her most extensive action in relief of Adeyemi on Saturday, had diminishing returns in her follow-up effort with just one kill on 14 swings, hitting negative-.071.

Tyla Reese Mane played just one set Sunday with no kills and four errors on four swings.

The Wahine highlight was at the middle, where Miliana Sylvester walled up for a career-high 10 blocks to go with eight kills, as UH posted 15 roofs as a team.

Freshman Cha’lei Reid led UH offensively with 16 kills on .379 hitting with three aces.

UH rattled off a 9-0 run on Victoria Leyva’s serve to close Set 3 and prevent the sweep, but the Wahine committed 10 attack errors in the fourth and Texas State defeated Hawaii for the first time in five all-time matches.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.