HILO, Hawai`i--Host Hawai`i Hilo overcame the loss of one of their best players and a large third set deficit to rally for a five-set win over Biola on Wednesday night at Vulcan Gymnasium.

The Vulcans won the pivotal match against a fellow conference title contender by the count of 25-17, 17-25, 29-27, 22-25, 15-10. The victory was the fifth straight for UH Hilo, who is now 9-2 on the season and 6-1 in the Pacific West Conference. For the moment, they sit in the top spot of the conference with a half-game lead over Chaminade and Azusa Pacific, both 5-1. 

Bria Beale had 17 kills for the Vulcans, including the match-winner in the fifth set. Samara Cruz had a career-high 16 kills and middle blocker Sydney Gott had a monster night with 14 kills, a .478 attack percentage, two solo blocks and seven block assists.

There were two turning points in the match for the Vulcans.

One came in the second set when senior opposite hitter Alexandria Parisian went down with an injury. The lefthander, who leads the Vulcans in service aces and is second on the squad in kills, had just put down a ball to give her team a 13-12 lead. Her injury caused a three-minute delay in the match, and when play resumed the Vulcans seemed out of sorts. 

The Eagles would score five straight points and go on to take the set (25-17), after the Vulcans had won the first set by the same score. Parisian would not return to the match.

The next turning point came in the pivotal third set. The Eagles carried their second set momentum into the third, building leads of 12-6 and 19-13. But the Vulcans then caught fire behind the swings of Bria Beale and Sydney Gott, rallying to tie the match at 22-22. A Gott kill gave UHH a set point, but Biola countered and the two teams traded points over the next few minutes. 

Ultimately, Beale hammered a kilkl to make it 28-27 and Ashton Jessee fired a service ace to complete the comeback, 29-27. 

Biola took a back-and-forth fourth set (25-22), setting up the winner-take-all fifth. Beale set the tone early with three kills and then Samara Cruz blasted three consecutive putaways to put UHH up for good at 8-6. Cruz, Beale, and Gott would help put distance between the Vulcans and Ealge with kills down the backstretch, with Gott and Beale finishing off the night back-to-back kills. 

"We came up with some great work at the net tonight, some timely blocks when we needed it," said UH Hilo head coach Chris Leonard. "Biola is a really good team and that was very good win for us tonight."

In addition to Beale, Cruz and Gott's numbers, setter Kendall Kott had 51 assists, Tani Hoke had 29 digs and Jessee had nine kills, two aces and two block assists. Madison Beebe and Dani Bryant led Biola with 16 kills each and Sami Hover had 25 digs. 

The Vulcans will host another PacWest contender on Saturday night, taking on Concordia at 7 pm. The Eagles are 4-1 in the PacWest after a Wednesday night win over Hawaii Pacific.

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