Box Score
HILO, Hawai'i – The Chaminade women's volleyball team ended a two-match losing streak Thursday, defeating Hawai'i-Hilo on the Big Island, 23-25, 25-23, 25-18, 26-23.
Kim Spring led the Silverswords, swatting down a season-high 19 kills with a .395 hitting percentage, which was also a season-best. Kapiolani Rapoza followed with 10 successful attacks, while Crystal Powell had nine and Kylee Pedro's eight. The Vulcans were led by Marley Strand-Nicolisen and Kyndra Trevino-Scott, who had 15 kills each.
The Silverswords evened their record to 4-4 and picked up their first Pacific West Conference win to improve to 1-2. The Vulcans fell to 5-3 and 0-3.
The first set was played nearly even until a five-point UH-Hilo run gave the Vulcans a 16-12 lead. CUH battled back, eventually tying the set at 20 on a Spring kill. The teams traded points until Strand-Nicolisen and Trevino-Scott recorded back-to-back kills to give the Vulcans the first set.
The Swords would establish an early three-point lead in the second set at 8-5. But a six-point swing would eventually give UHH a 17-14 advantage. The Vulcans' lead quickly dissipated on a 7-1 Swords' run, due in large part to three UH-Hilo attack errors, along with kills by Spring and Reigna Johnson to make the score, 21-18. Two more Vulcan hitting errors made it set point in favor of CUH, but after two consecutive points to bring UH-Hilo to within one, the Vulcans gave away set point on a service error, as the Swords squared the match at one.
The Silverswords took command of the match early in Set 3, due in large part to Spring, who had two kills and a pair of service aces as CUH built a 10-3 lead. The advantage swelled to 19-10 as the Swords forced five UH-Hilo hitting errors. CUH closed out the set, courtesy of two kills each from Spring, Rapoza and Powell, as the Swords went up, 2-sets-to-1.
The fourth set began much as the third did with the Swords building a 10-4 advantage with three putdowns by Rapoza and two by Spring. A 5-0 Vulcan run narrowed the Swords' lead to 10-9, but Chaminade built the lead back up to five at 19-14. UH-Hilo rallied back, forcing a 24-all deadlock. But CUH would slam the door shut when Spring powered down a kill, followed by Rapoza's match-ending attack. CUH hit a whopping .387 in the set to UHH's .188.
The Swords hit at a .254 clip, its second-highest percentage of the season, while amassing 7.5 total blocks with Ku`ulei Lynch picking up six block assists. Chaminade also limited the Vulcans to a .149 hitting percentage and forced them into 29 hitting errors.
"It was a game of up and downs," Chaminade head coach Kahala Kabalis said. "We fought through some tough rallies, made some amazing defensive plays and stayed smart at the net. When we were up, we played great volleyball and it showed huge promise for success throughout the season if we can keep this consistent."
The Swords return home for a rematch with No. 4 BYU-Hawai'i on Saturday at McCabe Gym. Chaminade scored only 38 combined points in a straight-set loss to the Seasiders on Sept. 20. BYUH suffered its first loss of the year, also on Thursday, falling in five to Hawai'i Pacific.
