Box Score (photo of Bria Beale courtesy of Rick Ogata)

BOX SCORE

HILO--The first day of the PacWest #2 Spring Volleyball tournament happened to fall on Good Friday, and as it turns out a very good Friday it was for the UH Hilo Vulcans.

The UH Hilo volleyball team picked up their second win of the day on Friday afternoon by taking down Chaminade in four sets, 25-16, 25-21, 23-25, 25-20. After defeating Hawaii Pacific in three sets earlier, the Vulcans improved to 5-1 on the young season. The Silverswords are now 2-3. Chaminade and Hawaii Pacific will play tonight at 7 pm to wrap up the first day of the tournament.

Bria Beale had 19 kills and 11 digs, hitting at a .385 clip. Alexandria Parisian added 14 kills and 13 digs, while Taira Kaawaloa finished with nine kills and 16 digs. Kendall Kott had 47 assists for the Vulcans and Tani Hoke led with 18 digs.

"Chaminade is a very good team, they are aggressive and they attack you," Vulcan head coach Chris Leonard said after the match. "They are big and physical. We worked on our blocking this week and I thought we did a nice job of neutralizing their bigger attackers to a certain extent."

The Vulcans and Silverswords split a pair of five-set matches two weeks ago on Oahu.

UH Hilo trailed 9-5 in the first set before running off six straight points behind the serve of Hoke. They took a 11-9 lead and would complete a 13-2 run with a 19-12 lead. When the set ended, UHH had 16 kills to CUH's five, with Beale putting down five balls during the 25-16 win.

In the second set, UHH took a 12-7 lead, only to see the Silverswords come back to within a point at 14-13. A dump by setter Kott gave the Vulcans a 20-16 lead and another Beale putaway made it 22-17. The Vulcans would soon close out the set (25-21), hitting .333 for the game.

The Vulcans looked to be on their way to a sweep in the third set, with a 17-12 lead and a 21-17 margin after a Beale kill. But Chaminade roared back with a 5-0 run to take the lead at 22-21 on a Rachel Reedy kill. A Kaawaloa ace gave the Vulcans a 23-22 lead, but the Silverswords scored the last three points of the set to force a fourth game (23-25).

Chaminade led 10-7 in the fourth, but UHH went on a 5-0 run and wouldn't trail again. Beale closed the match out at 24-18 and 25-20 with kills, her 18th and 19th of the match. 

The Vulcans had 11 aces in the match, led by three each from Hoke, Beale and Parisian. 

"We served very well," Leonard added. "I thought we passed well and got a lot of touches on the block. Bria was outstanding as usual."

Annah Rivera led Chaminade with 12 kills.

On Saturday, the Vulcans will play Hawaii Pacific at 9 am, and Chaminade at 7 pm.

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