(photo of Samara Cruz courtesy of Joseph Poellot)

HILO, Hawai`i--For the second time this week, the Hawai`i Hilo volleyball team went five sets against a team of Eagles and came out on top.

The Vulcans won their sixth match in a row, this time holding on to top Concordia 20-25, 26-24, 25-16, 16-25, 15-7. UH Hilo improved to 10-2 overall and to 7-1 in the Pacific West Conference and remained tied for first place with Azusa Pacific.

Concordia fell to 9-5 on the season and 4-3 in the PacWest. They went 1-2 on their Hawaii trip, also falling in five sets to Chaminade earlier this week.

"I'm happy with where we are at right now," said Vulcan head coach Chris Leonard, whose team played without senior opposite side hitter Alexandria Parisian. "Any win in this conference is a big win, especially against a team like Concordia."

The Vulcans had to rally back twice, including taking the pivotal second set (26-24) and coming back after trailing 4-0 in the fifth set. Bria Beale led a balanced Vulcan attack with 22 kills and a career-high 29 digs. Samara Cruz was busy with 13 kills and 14 digs, and middle blockers Ashton Jessee (12 kills) and Kamilla Marinas (11 kills) stepped up as well. 

Kirra Schulz led the Eagles with 16 kills and Cassidy Gelacio had 27 digs on the defensive side.

Concordia won the first set despite seven kills from Beale. But the Eagles hit .311 and rallied from a 14-12 deficit with five straight points to take a lead that they wouldn't give up. The second set almost went to the Eagles as well. It was tied at 17-17 when Concordia realed off four straight points to take a 21-17 margin. But UHH battled back with kills from Beale, Jessee and Cruz to take a 24-22 lead. 

CUI then grabbed the next two points (24-24) before Jessee and Beale sewed up the set with back-to-back kills (26-24). Beale knocked home four of the final six kills in the set.

The Vulcans kept the momentum going in the third. Tani Hoke dropped in a couple of aces to put the home team up 4-2, and Jessee's mash put her team up 16-11. UHH would hit .303 in the set to cruise to a one-game lead (25-16).

But the Eagles didn't die. They owned the fourth set, scoring five straight points out of the gate to lead 8-3. They wouldn't trail in the set to force a fifth and deciding game (25-16). The fifth set began with the momentum on Concordia's side, scoring the first four points and pushing out to a 5-2 lead. 

Leonard and the Vulcans then turned to Marinas. She had kills in three of the next four points, with Jessee and Cruz also dropping in shots. In all the Vulcans scored seven of eight points during that run to take control of the match. Cruz pounded down three kills over the final stretch and the Vulcans would score 11 straight points overall, all on Hoke's serving. 

Hoke finished with 19 digs and the pair of aces, and Cruz added three aces. Setter Kendall Kott has a big night with 57 assists and 18 digs, and Madelyn Blandford came off the bench to post double figure dig numbers for the second straight match with 12. 

The Vulcans will continue their four-game homestand with matches next week against Dominican (Wednesday) and Holy Names (Saturday).



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