THIS WEEK
Friday, Sept. 29, UH Hilo (4-6/1-3) vs. Biola (7-4/1-2), Vulcan Gymnasium, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 30, UH Hilo vs. Point Loma (5-7/2-2), Vulcan Gymnasium, 2 p.m.

Hilo Headlines: The Vulcans continue their four-match homestand with a pair of tough contests this coming weekend. On Friday, they will play Pacific West Conference newcomer Biola (7 pm) and on Saturday afternoon it will be longtime PWC contender Point Loma (2 pm).

Promo Post: Friday is Big Island Club Volleyball night. All local volleyball club players and their coaches get into the match for free. On Saturday, the first 100 Vulcan fans through the door will receive a black Vulcan Pride t-shirt.

Splittsville: The Vulcans split their first home matches of the 2017 season, topping Academy of Art in straight sets on Friday night, before falling in a tight four sets the next night against Fresno Pacific. Against the Urban Knights, UHH won a long pivotal second set (30-28) to help steer them to victory. On Saturday, the Vulcans broke out to leads in three of the four sets, only to see the Sunbirds roar back to win two of those and eventually the match.

Crowd Pleasers: The Vulcans sent home a large and enthusiastic crowd with a win on Friday, when 575 fans cheered on their team. 380 were in the house on Saturday, bringing the weekend total to 955.

Lucee's Lines: Junior transfer Lucee Fitzgerald had a career high 15 kills against the Urban Knights and added 10 more on Saturday against FPU. For the weekend, she had 25 kills, four aces, four blocks and 13 digs. She was named a co-winner of the UH Hilo Pepsi Athlete of the Week.

Noticing the Numbers: Balance is the key thus far for the Vulcans, with senior Siera Green leading the squad with 3.27 kills per set, with Randi Hunter next (2.27), and Lucy Fitzgerald close behind (2.17). In UHH's 6-2 offense, Basia Sauni has 181 assists and freshman Sha Rae Niu adds 135. Green has 15 service aces, while Mina Grant and Fitzgerald have 12. Grant is the leader in digs with 166. Kiley Davis has 32 block assists and Ashton Jessee has 26.

PacWest Listing: Mina Grant is second in the Pacific West Conference in digs with 5.0 per set. Siera Green is third in aces with 0.49 per set, and Lucee Fitzgerald is seventh (0.38). Green is also sixth in kills per set (3.38). Kiley Davis is seventh in blocks (1.00).

Biola Blurb: The Eagles are the PacWest newcomer, but have a long successful history in volleyball at the NAIA level. They got off to a great beginning in their first season in NCAA Division II, starting out 6-2 in non-conference action, which included impressive wins over Chico State, Cal Poly Pomona and Sonoma State. In PWC play, they are 1-2 with all three matches going the five-set distance. They opened conference play with a 3-2 win over PWC-favorite Concordia, and they then dropped heartbreakers to Azusa Pacific and Point Loma. Against the Sea Lions, they led two sets to zero, before the visitors rallied back to win. The Eagles have PWC statistical leaders in assists (Brinley Beresford, 9.66, 2^nd), Sierra Bauder in blocks (1.25, 3^rd) and Tess Van Grouw in digs (4.98, 3rd). This will be the first PacWest meeting between the Eagles and Vulcans, but they have met three other times in school history, with UHH holding a 2-1 advantage. The first meeting was in 1978, UH Hilo's first season of collegiate volleyball.

Points about Point Loma: Two seasons ago, the Sea Lions qualified for the NCAA tournament (20-10) and they were 19-9 in 2014. Last year, they struggled to an uncharacteristic 11-18 mark. In 2017, they are 5-7 overall and 2-2 in PacWest play, coming off a huge comeback victory over Biola on Saturday night. In that one, the Sea Lions trailed two sets to zip but then rallied for a 26-24 win in the third set to stay alive. They took the fourth set (25-17), and then stunned the Eagle home crowd with a 16-14 win in the fifth set. Setter Cara Keturakis is third in the PacWest with 8.86 assists per set, and PLNU can also boast of the top two ace leaders in the league in Emily Coleman (0.52) and Julia Malinas (0.50). Additionally, Holley Persson leads the PWC in digs (5.70). Point Loma leads the all-time series between the two teams (6-2), and the Sea Lions have won the last two meetings including last year's contest in San Diego (3-2).

Looking Ahead: The Vulcans will return to the road after a break next week, heading back to northern California for five matches in six days, beginning with a Sunday (Oct. 8) match at Dominican.

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. He now sports a collegiate career mark of 371-216. Most recently, he led two D-II programs to significant turnarounds at Northwestern Oklahoma State and Anderson (South Carolina). 

Krieger Quotes: "We played unevenly for our first weekend at home. We had a great crowd on Friday night and we fed off that a bit, but it seemed like we didn't bring the same energy to the court that Fresno Pacific did on Saturday. We are still working through a lot of things, and we will have to be more than ready this weekend with two very good opponents coming to the Big Island."