Box Score HONOLULU – The old adage is that close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. After several close defeats, the Chaminade women's volleyball finally put everything together, downing Academy of Art, 25-15, 25-21, 25-21, in a Pacific West Conference match Thursday at McCabe Gym.
A lively crowd of 150 which included the University's faculty on Faculty Appreciation Night and members of the Urban Knights men's and women's soccer teams saw the Silverswords record their first sweep of the season in snapping a 5-match losing streak.
Kim Spring and
Crystal Powell led the Swords (6-12, 3-10 PacWest) with 10 kills each, while
Cassie Rushlow pounded down nine. Emily Papale led Academy of Art (9-12, 5-8) with a match-high 11 kills.
Spring was also dig shy of recording her fifth double-double on the season while
Brenda Walker paced the Swords with 15 digs.
Valentina Bevilacqua had 17 assists and a season-high three service aces.
Reigna Johnson tallied four total blocks on the evening for CUH.
Chaminade took control of the match midway through Set 1, turning what was a 5-all frame into a 16-8 advantage, as Powell hammered down three kills during the run. The Knights cut the deficit to five twice, but the Swords forced four attack errors to help close the set in convincing fashion. The Swords held Academy of Art to a minus-.024 percentage in the set.
The second saw both teams go back-and-forth with CUH taking a 3-point lead at 21-18. Two consecutive Academy of Art prompted the Swords to call timeout, but Rushlow's three kills down the stretch would help Chaminade go up 2-0.
The Swords opened up a sizeable lead in the third set and held a 23-15 margin, but three CUH hitting errors and a service error put life back into the Knights' hopes. But Rushlow and Spring would both put down successful attacks to end the evening.
"I think tonight, as a team, … we just showed up and played our game, we focused on what we needed to do on our side (with) our passing, setting, hitting and putting away balls," Powell said.
Chaminade out-hit Academy of Art, .231-.112, with 42 kills to the Knights' 28. The Swords also won the dig battle, 51-39 and had seven aces to Art U's two.
"Sadly, (the first sweep of the year) came this far along in the season, but we can use this as a road to success," Walker said. "We'll take this fire from today and take it into Fresno Pacific tomorrow and do our best."
The Swords' match against the No. 23 Sunbirds gets underway at 7 p.m. and can be heard live on goswords.com.
