HONOLULU – So close, yet so far is what the Chaminade University women's volleyball team experienced against the crosstown rival Hawai'i Pacific University on Friday.
The Silverswords nearly rallied from a 0-2 deficit before falling in five sets, 25-23, 25-21, 17-25, 23-25, 15-11, in a Pacific West Conference match at McCabe Gym.
The match, played in front of a crowd of 170, lasted 2 hours and 43 minutes in hot and humid conditions.
The 'Swords dropped to 7-6 overall, 0-3 in the PacWest while the Sharks improved to 3-6 and 1-2.
Cassie Rushlow and
Suncica Bakic put down 15 and 12 kills, respectively for the 'Swords, but could not offset three Sharks in the double-digit kills column, led by Pomai Recca's match-high 16. Kasey Thompson added 15 while Elizabeth Culpepper had 11.
Valentina Bevilacqua notched her third double-double of the season with 34 sets and 12 digs. The junior setter was one of four Silverswords who had double-digit digs (
Natashya Enos 17,
Athena Maskarich 12 and Rushow 11). In all, Chaminade amassed 79 digs on the evening.
Ku`ulei Lynch had a team-high six block assists for the home team.
Statistically, the match was relatively even in kills, hitting percentage and digs. But HPU tallied 15 total blocks to Chaminade's nine.
The 'Swords also hurt themselves with 17 service errors. In comparison, the Sharks had only six.
After dropping the first two sets, the 'Swords roared back in the third as Chaminade forced HPU to hit minus-.094 in the set.
In the fourth, the 'Swords hung on to force a decisive fifth set after jumping out to an 18-12 lead. The Sharks closed to within 24-23 before
Madalene Barrett ended the set.
But HPU proved too much in the fifth, jumping out to a 10-4 advantage. Chaminade closed to within 14-11, but Haley Doefler's kill ended the match.
The Silverswords will host Hawai'i-Hilo on Saturday at McCabe, starting at 7 p.m. Live streaming audio of the match will be available on GoSwords.com.
