by HILO, Hawai`i—A balanced attack and very few stumbles was the recipe again for the Hawai`i Hilo Vulcans on Monday night at Vulcan Gymnasium where they took down Holy Names in three sets, 25-15, 25-8, 26-24.
The victory was the fifth straight for the Vulcans, who remain in second place in the Pacific West Conference standings. They improved to 7-1 in league play and 11-3 overall. Holy Names fell to 3-13 on the year and to 2-8 in the PacWest.
It was the eighth three-set victory this season for UH Hilo. They hit an impactful .412 in the first set and .464 in the second set. Freshman opposite hitter Alexandria Parisian (Chippewa/Cree) led the squad with 12 kills (.321 attack percentage), followed closely by middle blocker Kiley Davis’ 10 kills (.529).
Unlike Friday night when the Vulcans struggled before winning in four sets over Academy of Art, the home team came out of the gates firing tonight. They jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the first set on a Maile Powell ace and soon pushed that lead out to 20-10. They finished the set on a Davis kill, one of four that she had in the first set.
The second set was textbook. The Vulcans had a 78 percent sideout rate and had no attack errors in rolling to a 25-8 win. Davis again had four kills and Parisian had five in the set as the Vulcans hit a blistering .464.
The Hawks gave a valiant effort in the third set, battling back from a 7-3 deficit to a 14-14 tie. From there, the Vulcans led most of the way, but never by more than two points. The Vulcans had three set points at 24-22 and 24-23, and 25-24 before Parisian ended the night with her 12th kill.
“Those were two of the better sets that we have played this year,” said head coach Gene Krieger. “When you get an 87 percent sideout percentage, you are probably going to win that set,” the second-year coach deadpanned. “It was good to get everyone in, and all contributed.”
Bria Beale had nine kills and 11 digs tonight. Kaila Lizama came off the bench to contribute ten digs, one of three players in double figures in that category. The others were Basia Sauni (13), Mina Grant (12) and Beale’s 11. Sauni had 21 assists and three services aces as well.
Tiana Heffernan led Holy Names with six kills and Cassidy Simon had 14 digs.
UH Hilo’s six-match homestand continues this weekend with a pair of huge match-ups. On Saturday, they host Chaminade, who is 12-3 on the year and 6-3 in the PacWest. Sunday’s bout is with their other island rival, Hawaii Pacific (5-10/4-5). Both matches are in Vulcan Gym with the start times set for 7 p.m.
“Those are big matches, for Hawaii bragging rights and placement in the PacWest standings,” Krieger added. “We are going to need everything we’ve got and another good crowd to pull this off.”
