FRESNO, Calif. – The Chaminade University women's volleyball team is probably sad to leave the Northern California pod of the Pacific West Conference.
The Silverswords on Saturday rolled past Fresno Pacific, 25-17, 25-16, 25-15, at the Special Event Center to complete the five-match NorCal road sweep for the second straight season. All but one match were done in straight sets and also extended their winning streak in the region to 10 dating back to the end of the 2016 season.
The win was the seventh consecutive for Chaminade which improved to 20-4 overall and 14-4 in the PacWest. It's just the second time ever that the volleyball program has reached the 20-win plateau. The victory also gave Silverswords head coach
Kahala Kabalis Hoke career win No. 99.
Alana Handy (Burlington, Wash./Bethune-Cookman Univ./Burlington-Edison) powered down 13 kills with a .346 attack percentage while
Brooke Bell (Escondido, Calif./North Idaho College/Calvin Christian HS) had 10 kills in hitting .615 to cap off an impressive three-match stretch during the week.
PacWest Player of the Week
Emma Tecklenburg (Plano, Texas/Plano Senior) had eight kills and nine digs while
Claire Zanon (Beaverton, Ore./Jesuit) had a career-high six blocks. Zanon also added four kills, four assists and six digs.
Skyler Curry (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Westlake) dished out 16 assists while
Danielle Wiley (Peoria, Ariz./Centennial) had 12 along with eight digs.
Freshman Latasia Saulala (Morgan Hill, Calif./Oakwood) set a season-high with three blocks while Teckleburg, Bell and
Terezie Cernosek (Santa Clarita, Calif./Valencia) each had two blocks.
Fresno Pacific (5-21, 4-13 PacWest) was led by Mikayla Kennedy's nine kills.
The 'Swords defense forced the Sunbirds into 27 hitting errors and held them to a -.020 attack percentage. It's the first time Chaminade held an opponent to a negative percentage since Sept. 4, 2010 when Slippery Rock hit -.009.
The Silverswords turn a 14-14 first set into a rout courtesy of a 10-1 run which at one point, the 'Swords forced four straight Sunbird hitting errors.
The second set was much the same when Chaminade turned a 12-11 deficit into an 18-12 lead with the 'Swords converting overpasses on three consecutive possessions into kills. A 5-0 set-ending run put them ahead 2-0.
Chaminade's only large run in the third set was 6-0 surge to end the match.
The 'Swords had 39 kills to Fresno Pacific's 24. Assists (35-23), digs (42-36), aces (4-1) and blocks (8-2) all favored the visitors.
Meanwhile Bell concluded a blistering finish to the road trip with 31 total kills and a .604 percentage in the three matches this week. During the five-match road swing which began October 20, she hit .565 with 57 kills.
While Chaminade enjoys its NorCal success, its next destination is back home to Honolulu in key contests that will likely determine their postseason fate. Their first match back at McCabe Gym is Thursday against Point Loma with whom they have a half-game lead over in the PacWest standings. It will also give an opportunity for the Silverswords to tie the 1996 squad for most wins in a season as well as give Kabalis Hoke her 100th career win.
Thursday's match will be followed by a Saturday matinee showdown with conference-leader Azusa Pacific (19-6, 15-2 PacWest) in a key contest that could help determine the PacWest title.
