HONOLULU, Hawai'i – The University of Hawai'i at Hilo Women's Volleyball team closed out back-to-back double days of action at the Hawai'i Challenge with losses to West Virginia State and Sonoma State Saturday on O'ahu.

The Vulcans opened the day with a 20-25, 22-25, 25-20, 14-25 loss to the Yellow Jackets before falling 23-25, 19-25, 17-25 to the Seawolves.

Hawai'i Hilo moved to a 3-5 record while WVSU (Mountain East Conference) moved to 1-2 and SSU (CCA) to 2-2.

GAME 1: WEST VIRGINIA STATE 3, HAWAI'I HILO 1

While the Vulcans were down two hitters throughout the majority of the match, they still fought hard and showcased one of their better stretches of execution throughout the early part of this season.

Set 1 saw both teams battle to a 19-all tie before the Yellow Jackets managed to pull away by stringing together five-straight points. Set 2 also saw a tied 21-21 score before WVSU pulled away with three consecutive points to take a 2-0 lead.

The majority of Set 3 was a different story. Hawai'i Hilo jumped out to a 7-0 lead and rode momentum all the way to a 22-8 score in which the Vulcans played nearly error-free. Imeleta Ale and Baylee Goeas Galdeira proved a bit of a spark as Kamryn Childs, Chase Koepke, Raelee Samio and Samara Cruz each pitched in their fair share of solid play.

But still, the Yellow Jackets mounted a comeback as the Vulcans' errors started to pile up with the score coming as close as 24-20 before Hawai'i Hilo took the set win on a WVSU service error.

West Virginia State continued its strong finishing-play as it closed out the final set with eight-straight points to drop the Vulcans.

The win also marked the first career victory for WVSU head coach Hillary Hurley, a former two-sport standout at Hawai'i Hilo from 2007-2012. Unfortunately, it had to come against the program she helped bring two Pacific West Conference titles to, but Hurley called it "a full-circle moment."

GAME 2: SONOMA STATE 3, HAWAI'I HILO 0

Despite the sweep, this one was a battle in the early half of the match.

The first set went through 14 ties and seven lead changes as the Vulcans hit .273 but were bested by the Seawolves' mark of .333. Hawai'i Hilo held a slight 21-19 lead, but Sonoma State came storming back to finish out six of the next eight points for the set win.

After an 8-all tie, Sonoma State pulled away with eight-straight points, but this time it was the Vulcans who came storming back to tie the match at 18-18. However, momentum again swung to the Seawolves' side as they closed out with six consecutive points.

On the match, Sonoma State finished with a .340 hitting percentage.

UP NEXT

Hawai'i Hilo will have two weeks off before hosting its home opener Sept. 16 against HPU to start the PacWest Conference season.

The Vulcans will then welcome Southern-California schools CUI (Sept. 21), Point Loma (Sept. 23) and Azusa Pacific (Sept. 24) as part of the first home stand at the Vulcan Gymnasium.