SAN DIEGO, Calif.—Using a formula that is becoming very familiar and beautiful at the same time, the Hawai`i Hilo volleyball team used a balanced attack to claim a complete-match victory over Point Loma on Saturday night at Golden Gymnasium, 25-23, 25-19, 25-17.
The Vulcans improved to 9-3 on the season and to 5-1 in the Pacific West Conference, maintaining their grip on second place. The Sea Lions fell to 7-7 overall and 4-3 in league play.
Coach
Gene Krieger's team has now won seven of their last eight matches, and they also captured their seventh 3-0 win of the year.
The middle blockers led the balanced stat sheet tonight for the Vulcans.
Ashton Jessee had eight kills (.471 %) and seven block assists, while
Kiley Davis also had eight put-aways with a uber hot .500 attack percentage.
Bria Beale had another all-around effort with seven kills and a team-best 13 digs,
Evelin Solyomvari had seven kills and
Alexandria Parisian added six.
Maile Powell had 15 assists, three service aces and nine digs, while
Basia Sauni handed out 20 assists.
Mina Grant had ten digs.
UH Hilo trailed only twice in the match, despite a tight first set. They were behind briefly 18-17 in the opening game and once at 5-4 in the third set, but were otherwise in control.
The first set could have gone either direction. The Vulcans jumped out to a 5-1 lead, but the Sea Lions came back to tie the match at 17-17. There were be four more ties in the set, but the visitors would take the lead for good at 24-22 on a block by Davis and would close out the set on a Jessee kill (25-23). The sophomore middle had five of her kills in the first set and hit .833.
In the second set, UH Hilo roared out to a 12-3 lead and would never trail. They closed the game after a long point and another Vulcan block to take a 2-0 set lead (25-19). In the third game, PLNU had a 6-5 lead but the Vulcans proceeded to score five straight points, two of them on Powell aces to take a 10-5 margin. They would move out to a 15-8 lead and close the match on a
Teisa Tuioti kill (25-17). The Vulcans hit .324 in the set.
UH Hilo won three of four matches on a tough southern California road swing. They now return home and will host Academy of Art on Friday at Vulcan Gymnasium. Start time is 7 p.m.
