HONOLULU, Hawai'i – It was a record-setting morning on O'ahu, but a tough loss for the Hawai'i Hilo women's volleyball team as it was dropped in straight sets by the University of Alaska Anchorage to wrap up the two-day season-opening Hawai'i-Alaska Challenge at Hawai'i Pacific University's The Shark Tank.
In the third set, senior setter Kendall Kott (Shingle Springs, Calif./Ponderosa HS) surpassed Sienna Davis (2013-16) as the Vulcans' all-time leader in career assists at 2,834.
The Shingle Springs, California-native matched the career-mark with four assists in the opening set then finally become No. 1 with the Vulcans' opening point in the third set on a successful pass to Samara Cruz (Escondido, Calif./Escondido HS) for the kill.
Kott finished the match with seven assists and one dig.
She had also previously set the program's single-season assists record with 1,274 in 2019 during her freshman year.
Set 1 - UAA 25, UHH 18
Set 2 - UAA 25, UHH 9
Set 3 - UAA 25, UHH 17
For the Vulcans, it was another tough loss with a good battle early on.
Both teams traded points in the opening frame with seven ties as UH Hilo looked primed to pull away after a Samara Cruz (Escondido, Calif./Escondido HS)-kill and back-to-back aces by Kamryn Childs (Syracuse, Utah/Syracuse HS) to take a three-point lead, but the Seawolves managed to string together clusters of points to flip the score and the set.
From there, it was all Seawolves as they went on separate point runs of seven and eight points in the second set with a five-point run in the final frame to take the sweep.
Eve Stephens led the way for UAA with double-digit kills and three aces as the team hit at a combined .280 percentage with 13 service aces.
UH Hilo had 25 attacking errors and 13 reception errors.
Cruz led the way with five kills followed by four each from Chloe Culanding (Chesapeake, Va./Grassfield HS), Nikki Logan (Huntington Beach, Calif./Edison HS) and Sophia Charpentier (Rosemount, Minn./Rosemount HS). Cruz also factored in on two blocks as Childs contributed on a total of three.
Freshman Emerson Reinke (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley HS) led the team with 14 assists for double-digit performances in both matches to open the season.
Hawai'i-Alaska Challenge
Both Alaska Anchorage and University of Alaska Fairbanks have been perfect to open the season with the Nanooks taking a five-set victory over No. 25 Chaminade Friday evening.
Fairbanks also swept Hawai'i Pacific Saturday afternoon and will have a rematch with the Silverswords Saturday night.
The Seawolves swept all three Hawai'i teams to finish 3-0.
UPDATE (08/20/22): Chaminade defeated Alaska Fairbanks in four sets Saturday night.
Magic Island Hawai'i Classic
Hawai'i Hilo will return to O'ahu next weekend for a two-day four-game slate as part of the Magic Island Hawai'i Classic at the Hawai'i Convention Center.
The Vulcans (0-2) will take on Stanislaus State (0-0), Cal State San Bernardino (0-0), Western Oregon (0-0) and San Francisco State (0-0).
Chaminade and Hawai'i Pacific will also be participants in the classic.
