HONOLULU – Now the waiting game begins.
 
In one of the most highly anticipated matches in recent weeks the Chaminade University women's volleyball team on Saturday did its part in solidifying an NCAA Tournament berth by winning a five-set thriller against instate rival Hawai'i Hilo in their regular season finale.
 
The Silverswords got four players in double-digit kills in the 25-20, 17-25, 25-13, 17-25, 15-9 in front of 235 fans at McCabe Gymnasium.
 
The victory extended the team's mark to 23-5 overall which was already a school record while finishing 17-5 in the Pacific West Conference. The team will find out Sunday afternoon to see if they are one of the eight squads that will participate in the NCAA West Regional this week. They were ranked seventh in the latest rankings.
 
Alana Handy (Burlington, Wash./Bethune-Cookman Univ./Burlington-Edison HS) had match-highs of 18 kills and 19 digs while hitting .405 to help put the 'Swords in position to earn their first bid since 2004.
 
Emma Tecklenburg (Plano, Texas/Plano Senior) added 16 kills and nine digs with Brooke Bell (Escondido, Calif./North Idaho College/Calvin Christian HS) contributing with 15 kills and Rachel Reedy (Temple City, Calif./Arcadia) doing her part with 13.
 
The Vulcans got 14 kills from Bria Beale as they fell to 21-7 overall while their 17-5 conference mark is tied with Chaminade for third place although the Silverswords swept the season series. UH Hilo has an outside shot of leapfrogging the teams ranked from 8 to 10, all of whom lost during the week.
 
Claire Zanon (Beaverton, Ore./Jesuit) equaled Handy with 19 digs with Nina Torio (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani) and Tecklenburg getting nine digs.
 
Danielle Wiley (Peoria, Ariz./Centennial) dished out 31 assists while Skyler Curry added 29 to give her 1,737 in her career, moving her past Nikolina Rastovac (2004-06) into fifth in the school's all-time list. Wiley also had a career-high five service aces.
 
Bell, Tecklenburg and Terezie Cernosek (Santa Clarita, Calif./Valencia) each had three blocks for Chaminade.
 
Silverswords fans were feeling uneasy midway through the first set when UH Hilo established a 13-9 lead. But Chaminade kept chipping away and down 15-13, scored six unanswered points to go ahead 19-15 which helped propel them to take an important 1-0 lead.
 
However the Vulcans were undaunted with their 12-5 run which helped them square the match.
 
In the third set, Chaminade went on an 8-0 surge highlighted by Wiley's four aces which included a pair of back-to-back dealings during the run which helped them take a 2-1 lead.
 
But with its backs and postseason hopes against the wall, UH Hilo fought back to even the match and force a winner-take-all fifth set.
 
The Vulcans got the first point of the fifth but the Silverswords got four straight on kills from Bell and Zanon as well as two UH Hilo attack errors. Chaminade eventually increased its lead to as many as five at 11-6 then scored four of the set's final five points including Handy's blast which ended the match. The 'Swords put down 11 kills and hit .400 in the final set while the Vulcans had just four kills with a .056 attack percentage.
 
Chaminade, which entered the match ranked in the top-10 nationally in both kills and assists per set, outpointed UH Hilo 80-68, put down more attacks (68-46), had more assists (65-40) and digs (69-48) and hit .264 to the Vulcans' .197.
 
UH Hilo, the PacWest's top blocking team at 2.53 per set entering the match, had nine total team blocks. Seven came in the first two sets but none in Sets 3 and 5. Oppositely, CUH had six total team blocks.
 
Seniors Bell, Cernosek and Curry were honored after the match as well as junior Kiana Drumheller (Auburn, Wash./Auburn Riverside) who is forgoing her final year of athletic eligibility.
 
The win also gave the 'Sword a sweep of all four matches in the PacWest Hawai'i Challenge volleyball standings for the second straight year. Chaminade takes the winner's three points while UH Hilo gets two and Hawai'i Pacific University with one.
 
The Silverswords will find out their postseason fate Sunday in the Division II Selection Show which will be carried online at NCAA.com at 5 p.m. Hawai'i Standard Time.