THIS WEEK
Friday, Sept. 15, UH Hilo (3-3) at Chaminade (5-3), Honolulu (McCabe Gymnasium), 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 16, UH Hilo at Hawaii Pacific (2-6), Honolulu (St. Andrew's Priory), 6 p.m.
(Links to Live Stats and Video Stream at www.hiloathletics.com)

Hilo Headlines: The Vulcans open Pacific West Conference action with a pair of matches on Oahu against island rivals Chaminade and Hawaii Pacific.

Jumping into the Pool: After what seemed like eons of preparation with no matches, the Vulcans dove into the 2017 season with six matches over five days in the San Francisco bay area. The team opened the Gene Krieger era with a win over Holy Names (3-0), lost to Menlo (3-0) and Cal State Monterey Bay (3-0), bounced back with victories over Alaska (3-1) and San Francisco State (3-0) and finished the trip with a loss to Cal Poly Pomona (3-0). 

No Drama: All six matches, wins and losses, were decided in short time with a 3-0 decision, except for UHH's win over Alaska (3-1).

West Region Challenge: Nearly every team in the NCAA Division II West Region played at a crossover tournament over the weekend. When it was all said and done, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference finished with the best record (27-17), followed by the PacWest (28-28) and the California Collegiate Athletic Association (21-31).

Life in the Balance: Through their first half dozen matches, the Vulcans sport a balanced look, one season removed from an offense that was dominated by First Team All-PWC selection Marley Strand-Nicolaisen. Senior Siera Green leads the club with 3.16 kills per set, followed by junior transfer Randi Hunter at 2.21. In UHH's 6-2 offense, junior setter Basia Sauni averages 5.74 assists per set and freshman Sha Rae Niu adds 3.79. Mina Grant, who ranked eighth in the PWC last year in digs, leads the Vulcans again with 4.84, followed by Sauni at 2.42. Junior Kiley Davis had 17 block assists with freshman Ashton Jessee next (16) and Katrina Johnson not far behind (12).

Charting Chaminade: The Vulcans will open PacWest play on Friday at Chaminade, owners of a 5-3 record. The Silverswords hosted a robust crossover tournament over Labor Day weekend, which included No. 3 nationally ranked Nebraska-Kearney and No. 8 Lewis. The Silverswords lost to those two squads, but defeated Seattle Pacific in five sets and beat Colorado-Colorado Springs in four. Last weekend at Western Oregon, Chaminade won three of four, topping Seattle Pacific again (3-0), the host Wolves (3-1) along with Cal State San Marcos (3-1). Their only loss was to Cal State East Bay in five sets. Sophomore Emma Tecklenburg leads the Silverswords with 3.58 kills per set. Chaminade will host Holy Names on Thursday before the Vulcans get to the island. Hawaii HIlo leads the all-time series between the two teams (70-34), but Chaminade won both matches last year.

Shark Scoop: Hawaii Pacific is 2-6 early in the 2017 season. They played in the same Labor Day tournament as Chaminade, going 1-3 with their lone win coming against Colorado-Colorado Springs. They were in Nampa, Idaho last weekend, defeating Cal State LA (3-0) but falling to Sonoma State (3-0), Simon Fraser (3-2) and host/undefeated Northwest Nazarene (3-0). The Sharks are balanced, led thus far by Perla Escobar's 3.18 kills per set (she had 19 versus CSLA). The Sharks could just be a sleeping giant, as they were picked to finish sixth in the pre-season coaches poll. The Vulcans lead the all-time series between the two teams (68-56) and UHH won both matches last season.

Looking Ahead: The Vulcans will play their first home matches of the season after the Oahu trip, kicking off a four-match homestand on Friday, Sept. 22 against Academy of Art. They will then host Fresno Pacific (Sept. 23), Biola (Sept. 29) and Point Loma (Sept. 30).

The Coach: New Vulcan leader Gene Krieger became just the sixth volleyball coach in the program's storied history when he signed his contract last March. The veteran coach has a history of success at the NAIA and NCAA Division II level, having led squads to championship seasons at California Baptist, Cal Poly Pomona, Westmont, Western Oregon and Warner Pacific. His sports a collegiate career mark of 370-213. Most recently, he led two D-II programs to significant turnarounds at Northwestern Oklahoma State and Anderson (South Carolina). 

Krieger Quotes: "I hoped that we would come back at least 4-2, so we fell short of that, and our final match looked like a sixth match in five days would probably look. But our team goal was to get through the week and return better than when we left, and I know we accomplished that. We had two wins over solid teams with winning records (Alaska and SF State) and I saw glimpses of where we can be.....This week, we have very important rivalry matches for bragging rights in the state of Hawaii. Great way to start conference play and these are really key matches for three teams that are attempting to leave the center of the PacWest pack and move up."