by ELMONT, Calif.—They took the long, winding and stressful road to get there, but the Hawai`i Hilo volleyball team won their fifth straight match in five sets over host Notre Dame de Namur on Saturday afternoon at Walter Gleason Gymnasium.
It was the fifth of five matches in eight days for the Vulcans, their longest road trip of the year. They had to hang on to hold off the upset-minded Argonauts, 24-26, 25-22, 25-19, 21-25, 15-10.
UH Hilo will return to the Big Island with a 10-5 overall record and 5-2 in the Pacific West Conference. Notre Dame de Namur dropped their fifth straight and is now 2-11 on the season and 1-5 in conference action.
The Vulcans had to pull out all the stops in the fifth set to secure the win. They had 11 kills in the game and hit. 303, leading from almost start to finish. Bria Beale had four kills in the fifth, Emily Wade and Amber had two each and Armani Moultrie and Kendall Kott added. Tai’s final swing finished the nearly two hour and 30 minute match.
UH Hilo had a balanced attack, led by freshman Wade’s career-best 21 kills. The 6-foot-3 middle blocker hit a sizzling .487 and added two solo blocks. Beale had 20 kills and had 18 digs, and Tai contributed a career-best 19 kills and had 10 digs.
Feeding the frenzy of hitting was freshman setter Kott, who had 62 assists and 19 digs—both career highs. Kaila Lizama had 23 digs and two service aces, Lucee Fitzgerald had 17 digs off the bench and Alexandria Parisian (Chippewa/Cree) just missed double figure with nine kills.
As a team, the Vulcans had 80 kills in the match, compared to 62 for the Argonauts.
The Vulcans were in for a battle from the start. In the first set, with the score tied at 18-18, the Argo’s rolled off three straight points. NDNU still led at 24-21, but UHH rallied back to tie it at 24-24, before the home team put down back-to-back balls to take the set, 26-24.
The second set looked to be going NDNU’s way as well when they ran out to a 7-1 lead. But the Vulcans battled back to 18-18, and then took the set lead for good on kills by Beale and Wade, eventually evening things up at a set a piece (25-22).
The Vulcans scored four of the final five points to win the third set (25-19), but the Argonauts claimed the fourth set by breaking a 12-12 tie with three straight points and they would never trail again (25-21).
UH Hilo controlled the fifth set (see above) to remain unbeaten in northern California this season and to return to the Big Island on a high note.
Samantha Shaffer led the Argonauts with 17 kills and Rowan Jack had 24 digs.
The Vulcans will now play seven straight matches at home, beginning with a Thursday night (Oct. 10) match-up with Concordia (7 pm).
