HONOLULU – The Chaminade University women's volleyball team said aloha to their seniors during their season finale Saturday night, but not before giving No. 9 BYU-Hawai'i everything it could handle.
Despite the Seasiders winning in straight sets, 27-25, 25-16, 25-16, the match was much closer than the final score indicated. Chaminade was able to go toe-to-toe with BYUH, which won its fifth consecutive Pacific West Conference championship on Thursday.
The Silverswords (12-18 overall, 5-15 PacWest) got six kills each from
Ku`ulei Lynch and
Reigna Johnson while
Madalene Barrett and
Cassie Rushlow contributed with five.
The Seasiders (21-5, 18-2) were led by Stella Chen's 18 kills.
All three Chaminade seniors got the nod to begin the match. Setter
Ka Ua Cale made her first start since 2011 and tallied her first double-double of the year with 21 assists and a season-high 10 digs. Defensive specialist
Darcie Horiuchi got her first career start and got three digs. And libero
Athena Maskarich had 11 digs, her 17
th double-digit digs match of the season. All three seniors also recorded at least one service ace in the match.
The match started slowly for the 'Swords as the Seasiders raced out to an 18-12 lead in the first set. But Chaminade charged back as Lynch's kill was the catalyst of a 7-2 Silverswords' run, forcing BYUH to call a timeout with its lead pared down to 20-19. The 'Swords kept riding the momentum, tying the set at 22 on Barrett's kill. The Seasiders then took a 23-22 lead, but a ball handling error tied it at 23, then the 'Swords forced an attack error to take their first lead at 24-23 to force set point. BYUH then scored two straight to give them set point, but Rushlow's kill would deadlock the set at 27. However, the Seasiders managed to get the final two points to take the set.
In Set 2, BYUH held a 7-3 lead before the 'Swords rallied to tie it at 8 on kills from Barrett and Lynch with the help of two Seasider errors. But an 11-3 run by the visitors helped BYUH pull away to take a 2-0 advantage.
The third set had similar overtones to the second as BYUH held a 5-2 lead before Chaminade fought back to tie it at 7 on
Kira Long's slam. The 'Swords then took a 9-8 lead thanks to back-to-back blocks by Lynch and
Kawai Oleole as well as Johnson and Barrett. But the Seasiders' 11-2 run proved to be the decisive blow as they took the match.
However, the defeat did not take away from the festive crowd, who showered Cale, Horiuchi and Maskarich in traditional lei at the end.
All three seniors set season-highs: Cale with 214 assists and 19 service aces; Horiuchi 40 digs and 12 aces; and Maskarich with 349 digs and 27 aces. Cale ended her career with 461 assists, 24 aces, 153 digs and 22 kills. Meanwhile, Horiuchi finished her career with 130 digs and 21 aces while Maskarich tallied 735 career digs and 54 aces.
