The Wahine honor senior Mylana Byrd after sweep

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…