HILO--On a night that begin in misery, an epic comeback came just two points short of saving the evening.

Hawaii Hilo rallied from two sets down and held a 13-11 lead in the fifth set, but visiting Concordia reversed the momentum and held off the Vulcans with a thrilling 25-7, 25-21, 19-25, 19-25, 16-14 victory at Vulcan Gymnasium on Thursday night.

The Eagles improved to 17-2 on the season with the victory and moved to 8-2 in the Pacific West Conference. With the heart-breaking loss, Hawai`i Hilo fell to 5-8 overall and to 3-5 in conference action.

The Eagles won the first set in nearly record time, thumping the Vulcans 25-7. The night ended with back-to-back kills by Concordia's Hannah Andrews as the visitors claimed a wild fifth set. In between all of that was a monsterous comeback by the home team that had the Vulcans fans on their feet in appreciation.

Concordia rolled through their hosts in that first set, hiting .314. The Vulcans had just four kills in the set and were outscored 12-2 over the back half of the game. The second set was much better for the locals, as the two teams were tied at 14-14 but the Eagles ran off four straight points and didn't trail again in claiming the 25-21 game.

In the do or die third set, enter the new Vulcans. Division I transfer Haylee Roberts, who made her season debut with a few plays in the first set but didn't play at all in the second set, opened the game with a pair of kills to give UHH a 3-1 lead. The momentum turned a bit as the Vulcans took an 8-3 margin and never trailed the rest of the set. Siera Green had six kills in the third and the team hit .350, finishing off the game with a dump kill by setter Sienna Davis.

Midway through the fourth set, Roberts helped jump start the Vulcans again with four kills, giving them a 16-11 lead. Then Kyndra Trevino-Scott and Green took charge in what was a diverse offensive attack all evening to keep the Vuls ahead. Scott had back-to-back kills (19-15), Green had a block and kill to make it 21-16 and Davis floated in an ace a few points later for a 23-17 lead. A Concordia service miscue and a attack error closed out the set, sending the wild match to a fifth.

The two teams traded leads in the do or die set and the Eagles held an 8-7 lead at the switch. The clubs were tied at 8-8 and 10-10, and 11-11. A net violation and a Green kill put the Vulcans up 13-11, just two points away from completing the massive comeback. But a Rachel Flynn kill, a shared block by Amber Rose and Ellie Ladensack and another block by Rose and Andrews gave Concordia a 14-13 lead.

After a timeout, an Eagle service error tied things at 14-14, but Andrew then ended the drama with back-to-back put aways for the 16-14 final.

Flynn led all players with 17 kills, while Ladensack added 13 and Andrews had 12 for the Eagles. 

Marley Strand-Nicolaisen had 11 kills for the Vulcans, as did Green. Trevino-Scott had nine and Roberts had eight. Strand-Nicolaisen had 21 digs to lead the home team in that category. 

"I was proud of our comeback effort, especially after how poorly we played in the first set," said UHH head coach Tino Reyes. "I hope that this is one of those efforts that can help jump start us and carry over through the rest of the season."

The Vulcans will have a chance very soon to test that theory, on Saturday night at 7 pm, when they host Fresno Pacific. Start time is 7 p.m.