COSTA MESA – In a closely contested statistical battle, Hawaii Hilo won the war on the service line in a mid-afternoon PacWest Conference women's volleyball match on Saturday at the Freed Center.
The Vulcans defeated Vanguard by set scores of 25-21, 25-19, 17-25, 25-17 to successfully begin a four-match roadtrip on the mainland, improving to 15-11 overall and 10-6 in conference play. The Lions had a brief two-match win streak snuffed out, and fell to 10-10 on the season, 7-9 in the PacWest.
Vanguard slightly outhit Hawaii Hilo .185 to .182, but the Vulcans tallied 10 service aces to VU's six. In addition, the Lions were hampered by 14 service errors, their second-highest total of the season.
Junior Morgan Cole led the Blue and Gold with 12 kills and nine digs, while Bailey Olbur and Delaney Hill notched 10 kills each. Olbur hit an efficient .563 (10-1-16) and excelled at the net with a team-high six block assists.
Senior Blair Dodge topped all players with 16 digs.
Hawaii Hilo got identical 12-kill, 11-dig double-doubles from Samara Cruz and Taylor Tulio, while Chase Koepke hit a team-high .444 to go along with nine kills and four blocks.
Setter Maya Imoto-Eakin fired off five aces, while libero Tani Hoke picked up a team-best 13 digs.
What Happened?
Set 1 – A series of back-and-forth runs ensued between both squads, but the Vulcans outscored the Lions 9-2 to take a late six-point lead.
UHH led 3-0 and 5-2 before the Lions reeled off four straight points to grab a 6-5 lead. The Vulcans scored four of the next five points to go up 9-7, but VU responded with a 4-0 run for an 11-9 advantage. The two sides then fought through five ties.
With VU leading 15-14, the Vulcans sped away, aided by a pair of Lion service errors. The Vulcans also received a pair of kills from Tulio and an ace from Kamryn Childs, and led 23-17 when the dust settled.
VU briefly fought back with three straight points to pull within 23-20, but Tulio's fifth kill secured the 25-21 victory for the Vulcans, which hit .143 to VU's .089.
Set 2 – The Vulcans utilized another late set surge to take the 25-19 victory.
Vanguard trailed in the early portion of the set, but tied things up at 10-10 on an Olbur kill. The Vulcans leaned on a pair of 3-0 mini-runs to create some distance at 17-13. Payton Darm started a 5-1 Lion run with a kill, and Alister Borabo had two kills plus an assisted block with Olbur.
The score was tied for the final time at 18-18 when UHH scored six points in a row, which included two aces by Cruz and ended with an assisted block from Childs and Raelee Samio.
Tulio added three more kills in the frame, including the set-clinching smash.
UHH hit .280 (10-3-25), while VU countered at .241 (11-4-29).
Set 3 – An impassioned Lion side delivered a dose of UHH's own medicine to pull away in the third set.
Neither team led by more than two points and battled through 10 ties to get to 14-all.
Cole put down three straight kills to give the Lions a 17-14 lead. The Vulcans clawed back within a point at 18-17, but the Lions closed out the set on a 7-0 run to get back into the match.
Hill was instrumental in the rally with four kills, while Dodge was on the service line for six of those points. She landed a pair of service aces to get VU to set point.
VU hit a match-high .270 (13-3-37) and held UHH to .162 (10-4-37) efficiency.
Set 4 – The Lions stayed close, overcoming an early 5-2 deficit to knot the score at 5-5.
UHH led just 9-8, but scored five of the next seven points to expand the lead to 14-10. The Lions trailed 16-11 before putting together their final push, scoring four straight points to whittle the deficit to one. Cole bookended the run with a pair of kills.
But the Vulcans took control with a 7-0 run, helped by a pair of Imoto-Eakin aces.
The 23-16 UHH lead was too much for VU to overcome, and two more VU service errors resulted in a 25-17 Vulcan victory.
What's Next?: The Lions return to the Freed Center for the third time in five days, hosting Hawaii Pacific at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, November 11.
