by HILO, Hawai`i—Bria Beale had a double-double with 14 kills and 16 digs, and Kaila LIzama matched her career high with 29 digs for the second straight night as the Hawai`i Hilo Vulcans won their tenth straight match on Sunday night at Vulcan Gymnasium.
The Vulcans topped Dominican 25-19, 29-27, 25-20 in front of 413 fans to improve to 15-5 on the season and 10-2 in the Pacific West Conference. The Penguins, who were certainly a game opponent, dropped to 1-16 on the year and 1-11 in the PacWest.
Beale added two service aces to her numbers and she put down the final point of the night against a Dominican team that was hard to put away. Middle blocker Armani Moultrie had nine kills, a solo block and three block assists, and her fellow middle Kamilla Marinas added eight kills and five block assists. Alexandria Parisian (Chippwa/Cree) contributed seven kills and three blocks.
Seven different players for UH Hilo had kills in the first set, led by Parisian’s four. The Vulcans led the entire way, by as many as seven (24-17) before securing the final point (25-19).
But the second set was much different. There were 13 ties in the game, including nine from 18-18 to 29-27. Dominican actually had three set points before the Vulcans scored the final three counters, two of the three on kills by Beale, including the clincher.
The Vulcans came out of the break on fire in the third set, rushing out to a 13-3 lead. They still had a substantial margin at 18-8, but the Penguins began the climb back. The cut the margin to four points twice and held off one match point before Beale ended the night with yet another successful swing.
Tiffany Wong led the Penguins with 12 kills and Catherine Johnson had 10. Hana Wyles had 26 digs on the defensive side, and Kiana Pelton had two solo blocks and five total.
The next four Vulcan matches will be against the other top four squads in the PacWest. The string begins on Wednesday night at Vulcan Gymnasium against Point Loma (7 pm), followed by a Monday, Oct. 28 home bout with Azusa Pacific (4 pm). UHH will then travel to Oahu to face Hawaii Pacific (Nov. 2) and Chaminade (Nov. 3).
