HILO, Hawai`i—Bria Beale pounded out 18 kills and her teammates hit .519 in the decisive fourth set as UH Hilo won their seventh straight with a 23-25, 25-21, 25-19, 25-8 win over Biola on Saturday night at Vulcan Gymnasium.
The Vulcans improved to 12-5 on the season and to 7-2 in the Pacific West Conference. Biola is now 8-9 on the year and 5-4 in the PacWest.
Beale, who had just three kills in the first set with an uncharacteristic three attack errors, picked up the pace after that with six in the second set, five in the third and five in the fourth. The junior outside hitter ended up hitting .389 on the night.
After a slow start, the Vulcans found their groove with Beale and a number of other weapons in front of a crowd of 691.
"After a tough beginning, we found ways to clean things up," said UHH head coach
Chris Leonard. "It wasn't as clean as the other night (straight sets win over Concordia), but the mark of a good team is finding a way to win even when everything isn't going your way. I was proud of how we found ways tonight."
Those ways included getting production from the middle, where reigning PacWest Freshman of the Week
Emily Wade was in street clothes, as is junior all-conference middle
Ashton Jessee.
Armani Moultrie (six kills, two blocks) and
Kamilla Marinas (four kills) did just that.
"We have depth in a lot of positons, and that was tested tonight," Leonard confirmed. "But I thought Armani and Kamilla stepped up and played well."
Alexandria Parisian (11 kills) had another solid match, which included closing out set three with two kills.
Taira Kaawaloa came off the bench and put down six balls, hitting .667.
Kendall Kott had 37 assists,
Kaila Lizama had 21 digs and Beale added 13 digs.
Biola won the opening first set, 25-23. Both teams hit a negative percentage in a game that was sloppy to say the least. In the second set, the Vulcans pulled away late to even things up (1-1), with Beale and Kaawaloa putting down the final two points.
The rubber set was even until the Vulcans ran off four straight points to take a 14-8 lead. A pair of Parisian kills would give UHH a 2-1 lead. The home team then bulldozed the Eagles in the fourth, with the Vulcans pulling away from a 11-7 lead with 14 of the final 15 points, hitting .519.
Biola, who defeated Hawaii Pacific on Thursday night, was led by Bekah Roth's nine kills and Sami Hover's 14 digs.
UH Hilo continues a seven-match homestand with a Thursday match against Notre Dame de Namur (7 pm).
"We are getting better in a lot of ways," Leonard added. "Our goal is to get better every day. I am very pleased with the steps we took in getting better this weekend."
