HILO, Hawai`i—Something had to give when two hungry volleyball teams squared off on Friday night at the Vulcan Gymnasium, both nursing three-match losing streaks and both sitting just below the .500 mark.

Visiting Notre Dame de Namur was the team got fed, holding off Hawai`i Hilo 21-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-18 in a Pacific West Conference match at Vulcan Gymnasium. The win evened the Argonaut's conference record at 7-7 (they are 12-10 overall) and gave them a measure of revenge, since they lost 3-1 to the Vulcans earlier this month in Belmont, Calif.

Hawai`i Hilo, still missing two of their top three hitters due to injury, dropped their fourth straight to fall to 5-8 in the PacWest and to 8-12 overall. Senior Siera Green missed her fourth straight match and junior outside hitter Lucee Fitzgerald missed her seventh consecutive bout.

The Vulcans did have libero Mina Grant back, who had 28 digs tonight, three shy of her season-high of 31.  Freshman setter Sha Rae Niu returned as well. But in the end, after winning the first set and losing a heart-breaking third, the Vulcans ran out of bullets in the fourth.

The two teams traded points early in the first set, until the Argonauts inched ahead at 10-7. But the Vulcans rallied back behind the serve of Grant, reeling off six straight points, two of them on aces. They would take a 13-10 lead and never trail in the set again, although they wouldn't lead by more than three points until back-to-back kills by Ashton Jessee ended the set at 25-21.

In the second set, it was NDNU's turn to go on a roll. Trailing 7-5, the Argonauts won 12 of the next 14 points to take a 17-9 lead. The Vulcans gamely battled back, scoring nine of the next 11 counters, pulling to within a point (19-18) on a shared block by Kiley Davis and Katrina Johnson. NDNU then scored the next four points and would soon close out the set at 25-21.

The rubber set was a battle. Neither team led by more than three points the whole set, and one-to-two points was the margin nearly the entire game. The Argonauts inched ahead at 22-20 and were then one point away (24-22) after a UHH service error. NDNU then returned the favor with their own service error, and Davis followed with a kill to tie it at 24-24. The Argos then put the set to bed with kills by Bianca Alvarez and Rowan Jack (26-24).

The fourth set was all Argonauts. They built a 6-1 lead and stretched it to 9-3 before UH Hilo battled back to 12-9 on a kill by Evelin Solyomvari. But that's as close as they would get as the visitors pulled away. Alvarez, the leading hitter in the PacWest, had seven kills in the set and totaled 17 in the match. (25-18).

Solyomvari led the Vulcans with a season-high 11 kills, hitting at a .333 clip. Jessee finished with nine kills, as did Randi Hunter. Davis had three solo blocks and seven total blocks. Amber Tai had 19 digs, Basia Sauni had 17 assists and 18 digs, and Trixie Croad added 12 digs.
 
The Vulcans will wrap up their four-match homestand on Monday night when they host PacWest pre-season favorite Concordia. Start time is 7 p.m.