HONOLULU – The beginning of conference play, for the most part, has been a downer for the Chaminade University women's volleyball team, having dropped six consecutive Pacific West Conference openers entering Friday's match against Holy Names.
But the Silverswords shoved aside the opening match blues by dropping the Hawks 25-15, 25-17, 25-15 Friday at McCabe Gym. It was the first time the 'Swords had won their conference opener since 2008.
Chaminade improved to 8-1 overall (1-0 PacWest) on the year, its best start since 2007 and second-best in program history. Holy Names dropped to 1-8 and 0-1 in the PacWest.
Keani Passi hammered down a match-high 13 kills for the Silverswords while hitting .458 on the evening. The senior transfer from the University of Hawai'i-Manoa also had a team-best eight digs.
Cassie Rushlow and
Kim Spring followed with seven each. Rushlow also delivered three service aces.
Natashya Enos dished out a team-high 18 assists.
The Hawks were led by Marin Gibson who had six kills.
Chaminade hit a season-high .485 (44-6-80) while holding Holy Names to only a .096 (26-16-73) attacking percentage. They also out-blocked the Hawks 4-0.
The 'Swords cruised through the first set, committing only one hitting error, en-route to a .524 hitting percentage.
HNU battled back in the Set 2, taking a 16-15 lead midway through. But after Rushlow's kill tied it at 16,
Suncica Bakic served nine consecutive points with
Ku`ulei Lynch hammering down three of her five kills during the run.
The Hawks also proved feisty in the third set as they forged an 11-10 advantage on consecutive Lucee Fitzgerald aces. But the 'Swords went on a 9-2 run to help put the match away.
The 'Swords will look to improve to 9-1 Saturday against new conference member Concordia University (Calif.), which would equal the best start in school history, last done in 2002. A win would also be the 300
th in the history of Chaminade volleyball. GoSwords.com will have live streaming audio coverage of Saturday's match.
