HILO, Hawai`i--In a match that was virtually even all night, Chaminade scored the final four points of a 2.5 hour match to edge host Hawai`i Hilo in front of 877 loud fans at Vulcan Gymnasium.

It was a back-and-forth tussle that ended on Alana Handy's only kill of the night to seal it at 15-11 in the fifth set. That gave Chaminade a 21-25, 25-20, 25-22, 20-25, 15-11 victory. The Silverswords improved to 8-2 on the season and 2-0 in the Pacific West Conference, while the Vulcans are now 5-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play. 

Two teams that looked a lot alike--tall and balanced, played an exciting match that left the winners celebrating afterwards--something you might not see this early in the season, but it helped tell the importance of this rivalry match. 

Freshman Annah Rivera led a balanced Silversword team with 15 kills and five service aces, while Rachel Reedy had 17 kills Lataisia Saulala had ten kills and nine block assists, and Leka Kiner-Falefa added 17 digs.

UH Hilo was led by Bria Beale's 15 kills and Alexandria Parisian's 12. Amber Tai had three service aces, Kaila Lizama had 17 digs and Emily Wade had two solo blocks and four assisted.

"It was a close match, but Chaminade edged us in the areas of serving and passing," said UHH head coach Chris Leonard. "Credit to them, good teams find a way to beat you and they did just that at the end."

The Vulcans won the first set (25-21) on the strength of Beale's six kills and .667 attack percentage. The home team trailed 18-15 but then scored seven straight points, two of them on aces by Tai to claim the set. Chaminade never trailed in the second set after jumping out to a 6-1 lead, as Rivera had totaled nine kills to tie the match (25-20).

In the third set, the Vulcans led 19-17 and the set was tied at 21-21, but Chaminade scored four of the final five points to claim the set (25-22). In the all pivotal fourth set, it was UH Hilo's turn to lead the entire way to square up the match at two sets each (25-20)

In the fifth, UH Hilo broke out to a 3-0 on two Lizama aces, but the Silverswords came back to take a 6-5 lead. There were five ties after that, all the way to 11-11 and an ensuing CUH timeout.

From there, the night turned south for UH Hilo. Rivera pounded a kill (12-11), followed by a Vulcan attack error, a Chaminade ace by Nina Torio (14-11) and the final kill by Handy--who literally had just checked into the match for the first time.

The Vulcans will have a short turnaround and the need for a short memory. They will take on their other island rival, Hawaii Pacific, at 3 pm on Sunday at Vulcan Gymnasium.

"HPU is a good, balanced team, and we will have to be ready," Leonard added. "A short memory is a good thing to have in this game, and this is a good example of that."  Read Full Article