(photo of Taira Kaawaloa courtesy of Eric Alcantara)
HONOLULU, Oahu--Consecutive victories eight and nine entered the books on Sunday for the UH Hilo volleyball team.
The Vulcans took out Hawaii Pacific in three sets for the second straight day and then went a marathon five sets with Chaminade to get the victory to move to 11-1 on the spring season. It was UHH's ninth straight win, that's the good news. The bad news is that there is no championship play in the spring for NCAA Division II volleyball.
UH Hilo fought off a game opponent in Chaminade for the five-set win, 26-24, 19-25, 25-11, 19-25, 15-11. In the fifth set, the Vulcans trailed at 5-2 and 6-3 but rallied back by scoring six of the next seven points.
Bria Beale had two kills during that run, and
Kamilla Marinas and
Ashton Jessee also had putaways.
Chaminade would come back to tie the fifth set at 8-8, but again the Vulcans pulled away by scoring four of the next five points and wouldn't trail again.
Beale had a monster game with 16 kills and 25 digs. Jessee had 11 kills and five block assists for a Vulcan team that had 20 blocks in the match.
Alexandria Parisian had 11 kills and five blocks and
Tani Hoke added 17 digs on defense.
Kendall Kott had 43 assists and 14 digs.
In the three-set sweep in the morning of HPU, Beale had 12 kills while Marinas had 11 kills and three solo blocks. Marinas also had two block assists.
Taira Kaawaloa had 10 kills and Parisian added nine kills and 10 digs. Jessee had three aces and four block assists and Hoke had 19 digs in the three sets.
The Vulcans will see the Sharks and Silverswords again next weekend in Hilo, but they will also mix in a third opponent (twice) with Alaska Anchorage. The three-day tournament begins on Friday.
Â
