HONOLULU, Hawai`i—The University of Hawai`i Hilo volleyball team found themselves battling back from behind most of the night, and they ended up coming up just a few rallies short during a 25-18, 25-23, 17-25, 25-18 loss to Chaminade on Friday night at McCabe Gymnasium.

The victory for host Chaminade moved their early season record to 7-3 overall and 2-0 in the Pacific West Conference. The match was the PacWest opener for the Vulcans, and they are now 3-4 on the season.

Siera Green led the Vulcans with 11 kills. Evelin Solyomvari, playing in her first match in two seasons, had nine kills and six block assists.

In the first set, the Vulcans jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but the Silverswords scored nine of the next ten points to take a 10-4 lead. They would never trail in the set as the Vulcans hit just .029 percent in the opening game (25-18).

The second set was a much different chapter. The two teams traded leads through the opening points, with eight ties in the scorebook through a 9-9 beginning.  The Vulcans then took the first three-point lead after an ace by Basia Sauni and two kills by Lucee Fitzgerald. But the Silverswords battled after a timeout to tie it again at 12-12. At 13-13, Chaminade turned the tide by scoring six of the next seven points to take a 19-14 margin.

The hosts would stretch that lead to 24-17, seemingly in control of the set. But the Vulcans refused to fold, staving off six set points and crawling back to within one digit at 24-23. Chaminade then finally put the game away with a kill by Emma Tecklenburg to take a 2-0 lead (25-23).

UH Hilo showed more of that momentum switch in the third set. With the set tied t 8-8, the visitors scored three consecutive points (11-8) and they would never trail after that. The led by mostly five points the rest of the way, and finished off the game with an ace by Fitzgerald (25-17).

The Vulcans fell behind in the fourth set (9-5) and spent the rest of the game trying to battle back. They closed to 18-17 after a pair of aces by Fitzgerald, but the Silverswords responded with five consecutive points and went on to close out the match (25-18).

Statistically, the match was sloppy on both sides. The Vulcans hit just .099 on the night, while Chaminade was just a touch better at .171. Mina Grant had 20 digs to lead all players in that category. The Silverswords had four players with double-figure kill totals, led by Tecklenburg and Kira Long with 13 each.

The Vulcans will continue their opening weekend of conference play with a Saturday match at Hawai`i Pacific.  The match will start at 6 p.m. and be played at St. Andrew's Priory.