SAN DIEGO, Calif.—Taking on another top PacWest team for the second time in three nights, Hawai`i Hilo held serve on their way to a 25-23, 27-25, 16-25, 25-17 victory over Point Loma on Wednesday night at Golden Gymnasium.
The Vulcans reached 20 wins on the season with the triumph, improving to 20-6 on the year and to 15-3 in the Pacific West Conference. It also means a season sweep of Point Loma for the second year in a row. The Sea Lions fell to 17-10 overall and 13-6 in the PacWest.
The Vulcan victory sets up a PacWest showdown of major proportions tomorrow night in Azusa. The Cougars are 16-2 in conference play (22-4 overall), one game ahead of the Vulcans (15-3). APU has won six in a row, with their last loss coming at the hands of the Vulcans in Hilo on October 28.
Emily Wade led the Vulcans with 13 kills, hitting .370, with eight blocks.
Bria Beale had 11 kills and 13 digs, and
Armani Moultrie added 12 kills and hit .423 in a typical Vulcan balanced attack.
Kendall Kott had 49 assists and
Kaila Lizama added 19 digs.
In the first set there were 11 ties, including eight before the score reached double digits. The Vulcans finally took a 16-13 lead on a
Alexandria Parisian kill, but Point Loma answered with five straight points to take an 18-16 lead. UHH battled back to take a 23-22 margin on another Parisian kill and closed it out at 25-23 on a Beale put-away.
The second set was filled with swings in a tight match. UH Hilo led 15-10 after scoring five straight, but the Sea Lions countered with five straight points of their own. The Vulcans got the lead back on a kill by
Amber Tai (16-15), and the teams would trade points from there. Wade put the visitors up 24-22, but PLNU scored twice to tie it at 24-24. Tai and Wade added kills, and Tiara Kaawaloa put the deciding point down to give the Vulcans a 2-0 lead (27-25).
The scene changed in the third set. It was status quo early, with the teams trading leads and ties to 13-13. But PL scored three straight at that juncture and wouldn't trail again in the set. AT 17-15, they scored eight of the final nine points to win, 25-16. After having only seven errors the whole match through two sets, the Vulcans had seven more in the third.
The Vulcans regained control early in the fourth set. They built a six-point lead at 12-6 after an
Armani Moultrie kill. They would pull away, building a 10-point lead before closing the match on another Kaawalola kill (25-17).
The Vulcan-Cougar showdown is set for Thursday night at 6 pm Pacific, 4 pm Hawaii time.
