HONOLULU, Oahu--Two more wins in the books for the UH Hilo volleyball team on Saturday, and with that comes a clinching of the Hawaii Pod championship.

The Vulcans defeated host Chaminade at McCabe Gymnasium for their seventh consecutive win to improve to 9-1, while Chaminade drops to 4-6. The Vulcans took down the Silverswords in four sets, 25-23, 18-25, 25-20, 25-21. 

6-3 middle blocker Ashton Jessee had a huge diversified match with 14 kills, ten digs and three service aces. She did not have an attack error, hitting .636 in the match.

"That might be the best all-around match that I have seen Ashton play in all of her time here," said Vulcan head coach Chris Leonard. "She was outstanding. It's not often you see a middle reach double figures in digs, but she has worked really hard to get into top shape after missing most of 2019 with an injury."

UH Hilo's all-around effort was supplemented by Bria Beale's 10 kills, 11 digs and three aces. Taira Kaawaloa had eight kills and ten digs. Five Vulcans had double figure dig numbers, led by Tani Hoke with 13. Setter Kendall Kott had 38 assists and ten digs. 

"After a inefficient second set, we bounced back pretty good in sets three and four," Leonard added.

The Vulcans won the all-important first set, breaking away from a 20-20 and 23-23 count by scoring the last two points courtesy of Alexandria Parisian and Kaawaloa (25-23). UHH took a 7-3 lead in the second set, but Chaminade went on a 9-0 run and never trailed again in that game (18-25).

The third set was tied at 11-11 before the Vulcans pulled away for a 25-20 win and they scored four of the final five points in the fifth set to win 25-21. 

Brooklen Pe'a led Chaminade with 16 kills. 

The three Hawaii teams will play each other again on Sunday. The Vulcans will start play at 10 am versus Hawaii Pacific (whom they beat 3-0 earlier today), and they will face Chaminade again at 2:30 pm.

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