(photo of Sydney Gott by Joe Poellot. Story by Russ Blunck)

HILO, Hawai`i--UH Hilo kept its volleyball title hopes alive with their second three-set victory of the season over Point Loma on Wednesday night at Vulcan Gymnasium.

The Vulcans improved to 12-4 in the Pacific West Conference and to 15-5 overall with the 25-20, 25-17, 25-21 win. Coupled with Azusa Pacific's three-set loss to Chaminade, the Vulcans moved a half-match ahead of the Cougars, who came into the week leading the conference.

Such is life in the crazy PacWest in 2021. Chaminade is now the leader with a 15-3 record, followed by Biola at 13-3, Concordia and UH Hilo at 12-4 and APU is at 11-4. ,

The Vulcans play APU twice on Saturday at Vulucan Gymnasium, at 9 am and 6 pm.

UH Hilo was hitting on all cylinders for most of the night. They had 48 kills to 32 for the Sea Lions, and the home team hit an efficient .241 on the night, despite some acrobatic Point Loma defense. 

Bria Beale was her usual Player-of-the-Year contender self. She had 17 kills and 15 digs, hitting .326 along the way. Samara Cruz added 10 kills, 10 digs and three service aces. Tani Hoke led all players with 22 digs, and Kendall Kott had 41 assists.

Courtney Dyer had 21 digs to lead Point Loma in the stat column. The Sea Lions, playing its first match of three in Hawaii, fell to 9-7 in the conference and 13-11 overall.

The two teams battled even through most of the first set. There were 10 ties, including the last at 14-14 on a Cruz kill. The Vulcans then scored five straight points to never trail again in the game, with Sydney Gott putting down the clincher to make it 25-20.

In the second set, UHH blasted out to a 10-1 lead behind four kills by Beale. The senior outside hitter would go on to blast nine kills in the set, leading by as much as 15-3. The Sea Lions made a valliant run to climb back to within five points, but would get no closer in the 25-17 final with Beale closing things out with a hammer.

The third set was tight early, with Point Loma holding a 7-6 lead. But Cruz stepped to the service line and helped her team real off seven straight points to move ahead 13-7. The Vulcans would lead by as many as nine points before PLNU cut the margin to three points (22-19). Ashton Jessee would put down the final shot for the 25-21 win.

The Vulcans now get ready for Azusa Pacific, who will play Hawaii Pacific on Thursday before arriving in HIlo for the Saturday doubleheader.





  Read Full Article