Box Score (photo of Kamilla Marinas courtesy of Rick Ogata)
HILO, Hawai`i--The more you do something, the better you get at it, right?
In the case of five-setters, the Vulcans are experts. For the seventh time in 15 matches this spring, UH Hilo went five sets, this time beating Alaska Anchorage 23-25, 20-25, 25-20, 28-26, 15-13. The cardiac kids are now 5-2 in five-set matches this spring and are 13-2 overall.
Alaska Anchorage is now 11-3 on the season.
"I have never coached a team that has played as many five-set matches," said Vulcan head coach
Chris Leonard afterwards. "The kids just don't stress when they get into that situation. You can't really practice pressure of that kind, so this spring season has been an excellent opportunity for us to figure out how to work through it. It will benefit us next Fall for sure."
The Vulcans were down two sets to zero tonight, before mounting the comeback. "We never think we are out of it, our confidence is high in these kind of situations," Leonard added.
Players from both sides filled up the stat sheet. UHH's
Bria Beale had 18 kills, four service aces and 22 digs.
Alexandria Parisian had 14 kills, two aces and 19 digs.
Taira Kaawaloa had double-double numbers as well with 10 kills and 17 digs.
Vulcan setter
Kendall Kott had a season-high 51 assists and she had 15 digs.
Tani Hoke had 29 digs, a career high for the freshman.
Kamilla Marinas had eight kills and four block assists. The Vulcans had 114 digs in the wild match, and UAA had 110.
All-American Eve Stephens had 22 kills and 16 digs. Local product Mahala Kaapuni (Hilo HS) had a career-high 15 kills, while setter Ellen Floyd had 46 assists and 18 digs. Talia Leauanae had a game-high 31 digs.
Like last night, when Alaska Anchorage beat the Vulcans in five sets, the Seawolves took the first two sets.
In the first game, UAA used five kills from Kaapuni, including the final kill of the set to win, 25-23. Beale also had five kills in the set. The Vulcans played from behind again for much of the second set, with Stephens leading a run of six straight Seawolves points late in the set, three on kills and one on an ace for the 25-20 win.
The Vulcans controlled the third set to stay alive. They jumped out to a 7-1 lead and had a 22-13 margin later after a Vulcan block. Six straight UAA points brought them closer, but UHH closed out the set on an opponent error to win the set, 25-20,
In the fourth, there were 11 ties and six lead changes in a back-and-forth match. The Vulcans were looking a loss in the face, trailing 20-16, 21-17 and then at 23-19 after a Stephens ace. Two points from dropping the match, UHH scored four straight points and took the lead on a Beale ace (24-23).
UAA then scored the next two (25-24) for a match point opportunity, but Kaawaloa put a ball down to tie it again (25-25).
Ashton Jessee put the Vulcans back up with a kill, followed by block points by each team. Finally, at 27-26, Marinas ended the game with a kill down the middle.
The Vulcans carried that momentum into the fifth set, scoring the first five points. Still UAA would scream back and take a 9-8 lead after three kills by Stephens, their first lead of the set. The teams were tied at 10-10 and 12-12, leading to a time out.
UHH got to 13-12 via a UAA error, and then Beale zipped a serve that caught the net tape and dropped to the other side of the court for a point (14-12). Anchorage got one point back (14-13), before Parisian ended the long night with an angle shot.
Like UH Hilo's last two bouts in this tournament, the match time was two hours and 30 minutes. The math will take you to a total of seven hours and 30 minutes of volleyball in 36 hours.
"Can't replicate the value of that," Leonard closed.
