HONOLULU, Hawai'i – The Vulcans took a business trip to O'ahu and took the 10th-ranked team down to the wire in splitting weekend matchups with a thrilling five-set defeat to Chaminade (16-25, 25-19, 25-22, 19-25, 15-8) followed by a 3-1 victory over HPU (25-15, 24-26, 25-15, 25-22) in Pacific West Conference action.
In Saturday's battle with the No. 10 Silverswords, Hawai'i Hilo responded to an opening-set loss to go up, 2-1, but Chaminade managed to rally back to take the final two frames.
"Chaminade is a really strong team this year and it was a good test to see where we are at this point. We know that we're close to where we want to be, but there's still a lot of things to clean up," Vulcans head coach Chris Leonard said. "They're a talented team and have the ability to score many different ways. We slowed down a number of them but ended up just not slowing down the middle attack. We did a lot of really good things but against better teams, we have to be cleaner."
Chaminade's hitters posted under .200 percentages but its middles each were over .500. The Silverswords also committed a season-high 22 service errors with the Vulcans keeping in check in surrendering just three aces.
Hawai'i Hilo had a quick turnaround to take on HPU Sunday afternoon after having just swept the Sharks this past Monday in the Vulcan Gymnasium.
HPU managed to string together a late eight-point run in Set 2 to temporarily even the match, but the Vulcans again proved to be too much as they took the last two frames.
"HPU took a set off of Chaminade the other day. Even though we got the sweep last time and their record isn't great, they've been knocking on the door every time they play," Leonard said.
Sophomore Chase Koepke posted a career-high 17 kills (.467) with four blocks. Isabella Freeman added seven kills (.417) with four blocks as well. Samara Cruz tallied 15 digs with 12 kills as Taylor Tullo racked up 15 kills with seven of them coming in the final set.
OTHER NOTABLES
- Kamryn Childs and Samara Cruz each hit the century mark in career service aces (as a Vulcan) at 101 and 100, respectively, sitting at No. 7-8 in the program's all-time record books.
- Hawai'i Hilo's matchup with Chaminade was the Vulcans' eighth five-set match of the season. It was only the second for the Silverswords — the other was against nationally ranked West Texas A&M.
- The Vulcans swept the Sharks in the season series for the first time since the 2020-21 spring COVID-19 Hawai'i pod season when Hawai'i Hilo won all seven contests. Prior to that, the last "regular" season series sweep was 2018.
- Hawai'i Hilo added two points for volleyball in the PacWest Hawai'i Challenge, a year-round competition in common sports between the three Division-II Hawai'i schools. The Vulcans and Silverswords are currently tied with four points each. Chaminade and HPU will play one more time with the Vulcans and Silverswords both closing out their respective regular seasons on the Big Island.
UP NEXT
Hawai'i Hilo moved to 9-2 in the PacWest (14-7 overall) while No. 10 Chaminade moved to a 10-0 conference record (17-4 overall) and HPU with a 1-10 PacWest record (1-16 overall).
The Vulcans return for a four-game home stand hosting Concordia (Oct. 24), Point Loma (Oct. 26), Jessup (Oct. 30) and Fresno Pacific (Nov. 2). Oct. 24's matchup with Concordia is Think Pink Night with fans encouraged to wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness. Participating fans receive free entry. At the end of the month, fans are also encouraged to participate in our Halloween Costume Contest on Wednesday, Oct. 30, against Jessup.
Hawai'i Hilo and Chaminade will play again in the regular season finale on Saturday, Nov. 23 in the Vulcan Gymnasium where it will also be Senior Night.
The No. 1 team in the standings at the end of the regular season will be crowned PacWest Conference Champion and earn one of three automatic qualifying bids for the eight-team NCAA West Regional.
