FRESNO, Calif.--UH Hilo made it three wins in three tries, this time in three sets in taking down host Fresno Pacific on the road at the Special Events Center, 25-19, 25-13, 25-18.

The Vulcans rolled to the victory and were time efficient in doing so, taking care of business in about one hour and ten minutes. The Vulcans improved to 7-2 on the season and to 4-1 in the Pacific West Conference. The Sunbirds are now 5-10 on the season and 1-4 in the PacWest.

Bria Beale led a balanced Vulcan attack with 14 kills (.278 attack percentage) and 20 digs. Settler Kendall Kott had 39 assists and 13 digs and Alexandria Parisian had 15 digs, seven kills and four service aces. 

The team effort also included libero Tani Hoke's 19 digs, Sydney Gott's eight kills and .615 hitting percentage, Samara Cruz's seven kills and 16 digs and Kamilla Marinas' six kills, five of them in the third set. The Vulcans had seven service aces to none for the Sunbirds, and they had a 47-27 edge in kills.

FPU played the Vulcans even through the front half of the first set, trailing only 10-9. UHH would then score four of the next five points to go up 14-10, but the Sunbirds would twice cut the margin to one point later in the set. UH Hilo ultimately closed out the set with two kills by Gott, one by Cruz and an ace by Parisian (25-19).

Beale had five kills in the set and her FPU counterpart Corinne Acosta, the Preseason PacWest Player of the Year, had seven.

The Vulcans cooked on all cylinders in the second set, blowing out to a 9-2 lead after a Hoke ace. A Cruz ace would make it 14-4 and the Vulcans would pull away from there for the 25-13 win. Beale had six more kills in the set.

In the third game, the Vulcans again raced out to an early lead. Back-to-back kills by Marinas made it 7-2, and a combo of kills and aces by Beale and Cruz pushed the lead to 17-9. But after a Fresno timeout, the Sunbirds realed off six straight points to pull within two digits (17-15). It was now UHH's turn for a timeout, and out of that break they rolled down the stretch with Marinas hammering down three straight kills to push them to the 25-18 win.

Acosta finished with 15 kills for the home team on 64 swings. 

The Vulcans now return to the Bay area and will take on Holy Names on Saturday night.



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