HONOLULU, Hawai'i – Hawai'i Hilo Women's Volleyball swept its season-ending O'ahu island hop by defeating Chaminade in four sets (20-25, 26-24, 25-16, 25-18) on Friday evening (McCabe Gymnasium) and HPU in three sets (25-12, 25-21, 25-23) on Saturday afternoon (The Shark Tank) to clinch the fourth and final spot in the Pacific West Conference Championships postseason tournament.
Friday's win over Chaminade knocked Westmont out of contention and put Hawai'i Hilo as part of the four-team field with Point Loma (16-2), Concordia (15-3) and Biola (14-4) — hosted by Vanguard University on Nov. 13-14 at the Freed Center in Costa Mesa, California.
Vulcans opened the trip by swinging back against the Silverswords. After Chaminade took the opening set, UHH closed out a tight second set on the final two points, hit .361 to Chaminade's .088 in the third set and pulled away in the fourth.
Alohi Garcia recorded her 16th double-double of the season with 13 kills and 12 digs, and 'Anolani Santos had her eighth with 47 assists and 12 digs. Chase Koepke and Sajal Glunz each posted 14 kills.
The Vulcans followed with a sweep of HPU to close the season, taking the opening set comfortably and hitting .448 in each of the first two sets.
Garcia led Hawai'i Hilo with 16 kills (.333), Koepke hit .455 on 13 kills and Logan Blutreich hit .400 on nine kills.
Hawai'i Hilo will be the No. 4 seed and open the PacWest Championships with a semifinal-round matchup against Point Loma on Nov. 13 at 2:30 PM (4:30 PM PT).
GAME NOTES
- MATCH 1 (NOV. 6): Hawai'i Hilo 3, Chaminade 1 (20-25, 26-24, 25-16, 25-18)
- Set 1: Chaminade scored seven straight points twice to take a 19-9 lead. UHH answered with a 5-0 run and later a 4-0 run to get within 24-20.
- Set 2: UHH trailed, 21-18, then scored four straight points to lead 22-21. The score was tied at 22 and 24 before a Garcia kill and a Koepke service ace gave UHH the final two points.
- Set 3: UHH opened with an 8-0 run, and later scored eight straight to re-open its lead to 23-13. Koepke had six kills (.500) in the set.
- Set 4: UHH again opened with a big lead and then answered Chaminade's rally by scoring six straight points — four Garcia kills — to take a 13-8 lead. Chaminade later scored three straight points, but Koepke answered with three straight kills from 20-17 to build a 23-17 lead.
- Total Kills: Hawai'i Hilo 59, Chaminade 40
- Total Digs: Hawai'i Hilo 66, Chaminade 46
- Total Service Aces: Hawai'i Hilo 9, Chaminade 9
- Total Blocks: Hawai'i Hilo 6, Chaminade 10
- Santos' 47 assists rank No. 4 in a PacWest 4-Set Match.
- Blutreich recorded her 200th career block (77.0 as a Vulcan).
- Koepke: Program Career Rank No. 8 – 949 Kills
- No. 9: Sara Pilgreen (2000-2003) – 944 Kills
- Santos: Program Single-Season Rank No. 9 – 1,052 Assists
- No. 10: Heather Wride (1997) – 1,041 Assists
- Previous Matchup (Sept. 12, 2026): W 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-22) in Hilo, Hawai'i
- Chaminade: 13-15 Overall (7-11 PacWest)
- Nickname: Silverswords
- Honolulu, Hawai'i (O'ahu)
- Conference Preseason Poll: No. 2
- Current Conference Standing: No. 6
- NPI Rank (Nov. 1): No. 122 (No. 16 West Region)
- MATCH 2 (NOV. 7): Hawai'i Hilo 3, HPU 0 (25-12, 25-21, 25-23)
- Set 2: The score was tied at 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 10 and 11 before UHH pulled ahead to lead 19-14. HPU scored three straight to get within 22-21, but kills from Blutreich and Kealoha and an HPU attack error gave UHH the final three points. UHH hit .448 to HPU's .188 in the set.
- Set 3: UHH led 14-10 before HPU scored five straight points to take a 15-14 lead. The set had five lead changes and nine ties, including at 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23, before Koepke put down kills on the final two points.
- Total Kills: Hawai'i Hilo 53, HPU 32
- Total Assists: Hawai'i Hilo 50, HPU 30
- Total Service Aces: Hawai'i Hilo 7, HPU 3
- Total Blocks: Hawai'i Hilo 3, HPU 7
- Santos' 44 assists rank No. T1 in a PacWest 3-Set Match.
- Santos: Program Single-Season Rank No. 8 – 1,096 Assists
- No. 9: Emily Tooker (2008) – 1,095 Assists
- Previous Matchup (Oct. 16, 2026): W 3-0 (25-10, 25-17, 25-23) in Hilo, Hawai'i
- HPU: 4-20 Overall (3-15 PacWest)
- Nickname: Sharks
- Honolulu, Hawai'i (O'ahu)
- Conference Preseason Poll: No. 8
- Current Conference Standing: No. 9
- NPI Rank (Nov. 1): No. 233 (No. 30 West Region)
- Hawai'i Hilo: 21-8 Overall (13-5 PacWest)
- Nickname: Vulcans
- Conference Preseason Poll: No. 3
- Current Conference Standing: No. 4
- NPI Rank (Nov. 1): No. 52 (No. 11 West Region)
PACWEST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
The top four teams in the conference standings qualify for the 2026 PacWest Championships, hosted by Vanguard on Nov. 13-14 in Costa Mesa, California.
- Clinched (4/4): Point Loma (16-2), Concordia (15-3), Biola (14-4), Hawai'i Hilo (13-5)
- In Contention (0): None
- Eliminated (6): Dominican (2-16), HPU (3-15), Jessup (4-14), Vanguard (5-13), Chaminade (7-11), Westmont (11-7)
Friday, Nov. 13 – Semifinals Round
- 2:30 PM (4:30 PM PT) – No. 1 Point Loma vs. No. 4 Hawai'i Hilo
- 5:30 PM (7:30 PM PT) – No. 2 Concordia vs. No. 3 Biola
Saturday, Nov. 14 – Championship Match
- 4 PM (6 PM PT) – PLNU/UHH vs. CUI/BU
The Vulcans made an appearance in last year's PacWest Championships semifinal round. Hawai'i Hilo was voted No. 3 earlier in this year's conference preseason coaches poll.
PACWEST HAWAI'I CHALLENGE
With the wins over Chaminade and HPU, Hawai'i Hilo secured first place in the Women's Volleyball portion of the 2026-27 PacWest Hawai'i Challenge, worth three points. The Vulcans also earned three points for first place in Women's Soccer and two points in Men's Soccer for a second-place tie. The Vulcans now lead the overall standings with eight points.
The year-long multi-sport leaderboard tracks head-to-head results and conference event results in equally sponsored sports between Hawai'i's three NCAA Division II schools (Chaminade and HPU). The Vulcans captured the 2025-26 competition for a third consecutive year. Full breakdown available at HiloAthletics.com/PWCHI.
NCAA POWER INDEX (NPI)
NCAA Division II has implemented the NCAA Power Index (NPI) as the official, objective metric for determining NCAA Championships postseason tournament berths. Outside of conference champions receiving Automatic Bids (AQs), all remaining at-large spots are awarded based on final NPI rankings, which evaluate winning percentage, strength of schedule and match location.
In the most recent ratings, through games of Nov. 1, Hawai'i Hilo came in at No. 52 nationally and No. 11 in the West Region. NCAA Selection Show will be Nov. 15 with the opening rounds of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championships set for Nov. 19-22. Five at-large berths will be awarded alongside the AQs for the three champions from the conferences comprising the West Region — PacWest, California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC).
