BELMONT, Calif. – Last season a five-set loss at a winless Holy Names squad in Oakland, Calif., set the tone for a disastrous Pacific West Conference finish for the Chaminade University women's volleyball team.
Thirteen months later and back in the Bay Area, the Silverswords suffered a repeat performance. This time the consequences may have cost the 'Swords much more.
Notre Dame de Namur improved to 9-15 overall and 5-10 in the PacWest by taking advantage of 42 Chaminade errors in a 25-19, 25-15, 22-25, 14-25, 18-16 upset over the Silverswords Tuesday at the Walter Gleason Gymnasium.
Chaminade dropped to 15-7 overall and 8-6 in the PacWest and might have also severely damaged a chance for postseason play for the Silverswords, who haven't been to the NCAA Tournament since 2004.
All told, the 'Swords committed 26 hitting errors, six service errors and surrendered 10 service aces. Chaminade, which was third in the conference in hitting percentage at .229 coming into the match, hit .179 against the Argonauts which entered the match 12
th of 14 in opponent hitting percentage at .231. The Argos, who averaged 1.45 blocks per set as a team, established a new season high with 11 total team blocks.
Keani Passi led the Silverswords with her second straight 19-kill performance along with 15 digs and four total blocks.
Daisia LaBrie added 10 kills and a season-high-tying eight total blocks while hitting .643.
Kim Spring and
Suncica Bakic had seven kills each with
Reigna Johnson adding six.
Natashya Enos dished out 25 assists while
Skyler Curry added 19 with
Brenda Walker making 15 digs.
NDNU was led by Bianca Alvarez's 22 kills and 11 digs while Dominique Tarrant added 18 kills and Haley Wypiszynski collected seven total blocks and five service aces. The win by the Argos also snapped their four-match losing streak against Chaminade.
NDNU had the advantage in kills (57-53), percentage (.193-.179), assists (53-51), digs (62-58) and aces (10-6) although the 'Swords out-blocked the Argos 12-11.
The 'Swords dug themselves an early hole, trailing 13-8 in the first set. A 5-1 Chaminade run keyed by a block and kill from LaBrie would reduce the deficit to 16-15. But two hitting errors and a service error against Chaminade proved its undoing late in the set as NDNU pulled away to take a 1-0 lead.
The teams traded points to start the second set but with the score tied at 11, Chaminade continued to shoot itself in the foot, surrendering three service aces and three hitting errors that propelled an NDNU 8-0 run to run away with the frame to take a 2-0 lead.
Needing to win the third set to extend the match, the 'Swords this time never surrendered the run that played prominent roles in the first two sets. No more than three points separated the two teams until finally with the score tied at 20, Passi put down three kills to help Chaminade win the set. The Silverswords had only three hitting errors in the frame while hitting .289.
Again needing a win to extend the match, the 'Swords opened up a 10-2 lead. The Argos clawed back to within five at 14-9 but Johnson put down a kill then
Kali LaBrie got in the act, combining with her sister, Daisia, on a block with the younger LaBrie hammering down a kill to help extend the lead to 17-9, and eventually tying the match at 2 with the convincing win. Chaminade hit .500 (13-1-23) while holding the Argos to .069 (9-7-29).
In the decisive fifth set, the Silverswords led 4-1 but the mistakes returned to plague them with two hitting errors while surrendering an ace to give NDNU a 5-4 advantage. That was the opening the Argos needed, eventually building the lead to 14-12. However, the 'Swords staved off match point twice as Passi ripped down back-to-back kills to tie it at 14. Tarrant's attack again set up match point but Passi and LaBrie pushed back Tarrant to force extra points again at 15-all. Chaminade then forced Tarrant to hit long to set up aloha ball with a 16-15 lead, but fittingly, back-to-back 'Swords hitting errors set up NDNU's fourth match point with Alvarez putting down the winner.
The Silverswords return to action Thursday at Academy of Art.
