Box Score HONOLULU, Oahu—Taking a page out of UH Hilo's playbook, Sonoma State controlled the net and ultimately the match on their way to handing the Vulcans their first loss of the season, 25-19, 25-21, 25-23 on Saturday morning at McCabe Gym.
Both teams are now 2-1 in the tournament and on the season heading into their final matches at the Hawai`i Challenge. The Vulcans will wrap up play tonight (5:30) at the Shark Tank versus West Virginia State.
Junior middle blocker
Ashton Jessee led the Vulcans with nine kills, hitting .562 along the way. She also had three block assists to lead the Vulcans in that category. Freshman
Emily Wade had a career-high eight kills and
Kaila Lizama had 12 digs to lead the Vulcans on defense.
But the Seawolves had the better of the rest of the numbers. They had 12.5 total blocks to UH Hilo's five, and had 42 kills to UH Hilo's 33. Tate Battistini had 12 kills to lead Sonoma and Caiti Wiesner had 11.
Yesterday in a 3-2 win over Chico State, the Vulcans controlled the net against the Wildcats, 11-5 in total blocks.
The Seawolves set the tone in the first set. They had 6.5 blocks to UHH's none, and they converted .345 of their attack attempts. They broke an 8-8 tie with four straight points and never trailed after that in the set (25-19).
The Vulcans finally got their first block in the second set during a topsy-turvy game. Tied at 9-9, the Seawolves scored six straight points to take a 15-10 lead, but the Vulcans answered with a run of their own to tie it at 15-15. Somona went on the next run with a blitz of four points and wouldn't trail again on their way to claiming the set, 25-21.
In the third, the Vulcans ran out to a 5-1 lead, but the Seawolves battled back to tie (9-9) and then built a lead (16-12). UHH would rally back to 20-20 on a Jessee kill, and then would take the lead on a put-away by
Bria Beale. The teams traded points to 23-23, but the Seawolves scored the final two points to take the set and the match.
West Virginia State, UH Hilo's opponent tonight, is 0-3 in the tournament thus far with losses to Sonoma State, Hawaii Pacific and Chaminade.
