HILO, Hawai`i--It wasn't pretty and for sure it wasn't easy but host Hawai`i Hilo found a way to hold off visiting Holy Names on Wednesday night in volleyball action at Vulcan Gymnasium, 25-21, 25-21, 25-22.
The Vulcans, who earlier in the day learned that they are ranked seventh in the NCAA West Region, improved to 22-7 on the year and to 17-4 in the Pacific West Conference, securing second place. Holy Names fell to 3-23 overall and to 2-18 in PacWest play.
Armani Moultrie and
Bria Beale led UH Hilo's balanced attack with ten kills each.
Kaila Lizama had a career-high five service aces, four of them in the first set, and she also had 17 digs.
Emily Wade added six kills and five blocks, while setter
Kendall Kott had 24 assists, 12 digs and three blocks.
The 22 wins for the Vulcans is the most since the 2009 UHH team went 25-2, reaching the first round of the NCAA playoffs.
The Vulcans came from behind in the first set, and built leads just large enough in sets two and three to withstand Holy Names comeback efforts.
Holy Names came out of the starting line-ups on fire, taking a 9-4 lead before the crowd of 631 could get into their sets. But the Vulcans then scored eight straight points, all off the serve of Lizama to take a 12-9 lead. UHH would push that margin to 19-14 and then to 24-20 on a Moultrie kills, before finishing the set on a kill by
Alexandria Parisian, her fourth of the set (25-21).
In the second set, UH Hilo broke a 9-9 tie with three straight points, but then had to weather a six-point blitz by the Hawks (13-15). The Vulcans then went on a run to get the lead back at 16-15 on a block, and pushed the margin to 23-18 on a Moultrie put down. UHH would close out the set on a Kott ace (25-21).
The Hawks took an early 6-5 lead in the third set, but UHH scored four straight points and they wouldn't trail again. A Beale kill made it 17-10, and a little bit later UHH would be just four points from the match at 21-15. But once again, as they had done many times on the night, Holy Names didn't go away. They battled back to 22-21 and 23-22 before UHH was able to put the finishing touches on (25-22).
Lauren Sera led the Hawks with 10 kills and Cassidy Simon matched her season high with 26 digs.
The Vulcans next will put a wrap on the regular season with a Saturday night match against Academy of Art (7 pm). Four Vulcan seniors will be honored after the match--Lizama, Moultrie,
Lucee Fitzgerald and
Tori Daligcon.
