HILO, Hawai'i – The Chaminade University women's volleyball team got the usual performances from their top two attackers in Saturday's big matchup against island rival Hawai'i Hilo. But they also got a career night from a third member who sometimes gets overlooked.
Sophomore
Rachel Reedy (Temple City, Calif./Arcadia) hammered down 19 kills while hitting .567 – both career-highs – to help lead the Silverswords to a 25-20, 25-20, 23-25, 25-23 win over the Vulcans at UH Hilo Gymnasium.
It was a big win for the 'Swords who had dropped road matches to Pacific West Conference leader Azusa Pacific and third-place Biola earlier this season. Chaminade reached the lucky number 13 in the overall wins (13-3) while also improving to 7-3 in the conference, just a half-game behind fourth-place Point Loma.
The win also gave Chaminade two points in the PacWest Hawai'i Challenge volleyball standings.
Alana Handy (Burlington, Wash./Bethune-Cookman Univ./Burlington-Edison) put down 16 kills with 14 digs while
Emma Tecklenburg (Plano, Texas/Plano Senior) had an off-night percentage-wise but still added 11 kills and eight digs.
Evelin Solyomvari led UH Hilo with 15 kills as the Vulcans' five-match win streak came to an end, falling to 11-4 overall and 7-2 in the PacWest which dropped them from second to third in the conference standings.
Brooke Bell (Escondido, Calif./North Idaho College/Calvin Christian) and
Terezie Cernosek (Santa Clarita, Calif./Valencia) had seven kills each while the latter hit .417 and had four block assists on the night.
Skyler Curry (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Westlake) had 25 assists which gives her 1,434 in her career, moving her past former teammate Natashya Enos for seventh-place in the school's career assists list.
Danielle Wiley (Peoria, Ariz./Centennial) had 27 for the 'Swords.
Claire Zanon (Beaverton, Ore./Jesuit) had a match-best 18 digs while Curry had a season-high nine.
After a slow start to the first set which saw UH Hilo score the first four points, the 'Swords battled back before the Vulcans extended their lead back to four at 15-11. Then trailing 18-16, Reedy, Tecklenburg and Cernosek put down consecutive successful attacks to put them up by a point. A 4-0 run to end the set gave Chaminade the one-set lead. The blue and white hit .406 in the set and held the Vulcans to a .036 percentage while also amassing all 5 1/2 of their total blocks in the set.
In Set 2, an 8-0 'Swords surge gave them a seemingly comfortable 22-11 lead but spurred by the pro-Vulcans season-high crowd of 673, UH Hilo replied with seven straight which forced the 'Swords to use both timeouts. Tecklenburg's kill ended the run and two Vulcan errors helped put the Silverswords up two-sets-to-none.
Chaminade seemed poised for an uno-dos-adios win with leads of 18-12, 20-16 and 22-19 in the third frame but UH Hilo had other ideas. CUH surrendered a pair of service aces and a bad set finally helped put the home squad up with Bria Beale's kill sending the match to extra sets.
The Vulcans seemed poised to force a decisive fifth by holding a 19-16 advantage but Chaminade caught them at 20. From that point there were three UH Hilo leads and three ties before Reedy's final kill set up aloha ball. Tecklenburg's spike off the Vulcans block was sent back to Chaminade's side but landed out to end it.
For Chaminade it was its fifth straight win over the Vulcans dating back to the 2015 season.
After hitting for a healthy .406 in the first set, the 'Swords cooled somewhat in the final three but still managed to hit .268 against a Vulcans squad that came into the match as the PacWest's defensive attack percentage leaders at .145. Chaminade also overwhelmingly led in kills (66-40), assists (63-38) and digs (71-51) although UH Hilo amassed 10 of its 11 blocks after the first set and had eight aces to the 'Swords' four.
The Silverswords return home for another big PacWest match Tuesday when they host new-conference second-place holder Biola at McCabe Gym. The Eagles defeated the 'Swords in La Mirada, Calif., earlier this season.
