IRVINE, Calif.—The Hawai`i Hilo Vulcan volleyball team made a game effort against one of the top teams in the conference but came up short at Concordia on Friday night, 25-7, 25-23, 25-21.

The Vulcans wrapped up their final road trip of the season and will come back to Hilo at 8-17 on the season and 5-13 in the Pacific West Conference. Concordia, who had an 11-match winning streak snapped on Wednesday with a 3-2 loss to Biola, is now 16-9 on the year and 12-6 in conference play.

The Eagles are ranked No 10 in the latest NCAA West Region poll.

In the first set, it looked like Concordia was No. 10 in the country.  They hit .467 and rolled to a 25-7 win. They scored seven straight points early to take a 9-2 lead and would score 10 of the next 12 points to lead 19-4 before settling for the final margin.

The Vulcans came to life after that. They took an early lead in the second set (8-7) on a Trixie Croad service ace and would later be tied at 15-15. Concordia then ran off four consecutive points (19-15), but the Vulcans would crawl back to within two points (22-20) on a kill by Amber Tai. The Eagle margin would be cut to one after a combined block by Evelin Solyomvari and Ashton Jessee (24-23) but the hosts would get the next point to win, 25-23.

The Eagles would have all that they could handle in the third set as well. UH Hilo had a 9-7 lead after a Tai kill and would still lead 16-13 after another put-down by the freshman.

The Vulcans would lead by four (17-13) one point later, but then Concordia came back to life. They would score seven of the next eight points and go on to win, 25-21.

Siera Green had five kills to lead UHH, who only had 18 kills as a team. Basia Sauni had 12 digs and Mina Grant added 11. Kiley Davis had four assisted blocks.

Rachel Flynn led Concordia and all players with 14 kills.

The Vulcans will now return home for their final two matches of the season, hosting California Baptist on Friday and Hawai`i Pacific on Saturday. Both matches will begin at 7 pm.