HONOLULU – The Chaminade University women's volleyball returned home for the first time in nearly three weeks and pulled out with a gritty win over a determined Fresno Pacific University squad, 25-21, 17-25, 25-22, 19-25, 15-6, Friday at McCabe Gym.
Before a spirited crowd,
Keani Passi tallied her sixth double-double in her last eight matches by slamming down a career-high 24 kills while adding 13 digs with a .375 attacking percentage for the Silverswords, who improved to 13-4 overall, surpassing last season's victory total. Chaminade also improved to 6-3 in the Pacific West Conference.
The Sunbirds (4-10, 4-5), who entered the evening having won three of their last four matches, were led by Morghan Williams who put down 14 kills.
Daisia LaBrie added nine kills while
Suncica Bakic put down eight while
Cassie Rushlow had seven.
Chaminade also racked up 13 total team blocks with
Reigna Johnson, the reigning PacWest Defender of the Year, collecting eight total, her second-highest total of the season. And not to be outdone, Passi tied her season-high with six. LaBrie added four blocks on the night.
The 'Swords also outhit the Sunbirds, .245-.153. The teams were near-even in kills with the Silverswords putting down 57 to FPU's 55 while the Sunbirds had 73 digs, led by all-PacWest libero Hannah Butler who had 20 digs. The 'Swords had 72 with
Brenda Walker scooping up 20 as well while
Natashya Enos had 13 to go along with her 26 assists.
The Silverswords appeared to be cruising through in Set 1, jumping out to a 17-7 lead but the Sunbirds made things interesting towards the end, closing to 24-21 before Chaminade managed to end the set. The 'Swords held FPU to negative-.028 in the frame.
Fresno Pacific carried that momentum into the second set, going point-for-point with Chaminade before taking an 18-14 lead. The Sunbirds then rattled off five straight points to take a 23-14 edge to help even the match at one.
FPU managed to jump out to an 11-8 lead in the third but Bakic and Passi combined for six kills while LaBrie had a pair of block assists, part of a 13-3 Chaminade run to put the home team up, 2-1.
The Sunbirds didn't go away without a fight, winning the fourth to set up a winner-take-all fifth set.
With Set 5 tied at 2, the decisive run belonged to the 'Swords. Energized by the return of the vocal "Nade Squad," Passi and LaBrie combined for four consecutive kills and an FPU attack error helped give Chaminade a 7-2 lead. Fresno Pacific closed to 8-5 but the Silverswords continued to hammer down spikes by Bakic and Passi and two straight Rushlow kills set up aloha ball. Passi then ended the match with a service ace.
The 'Swords hit a staggering .625 in the fifth set by committing no hitting errors with 10 kills on 16 attacks. Conversely, the Sunbirds were held to .105 (5-3-19).
The Silverswords return to action on Friday, Oct. 23 when they host Azusa Pacific at McCabe Gym with live streaming audio coverage will be on GoSwords.com.
