HONOLULU – The Chaminade University women's volleyball team opened the 2019 season Friday with a pair of wins in their opener of the Hawai'i Challenge at McCabe Gymnasium.
The Silverswords (2-0) took down Sonoma State in four sets, 25-22, 20-25, 25-10, 25-22 in their first match of the day, then dispatched West Virginia State in straight sets, 25-22, 25-17, 25-21.
Alana Handy (Burlington, Wash./Bethune-Cookman Univ./Burlington-Edison) totaled 21 kills on the day while
Lataisia Saulala (Morgan Hill, Calif./Oakwood) contributed with 19 total kills while hitting .548 in the team's seven sets. Freshman
Rae Montrose (Cedar Hills, Utah/Lone Peak) made an impressive showing in her first collegiate day, totaling nine blocks.
Hawai'i Hilo swept Minot State in Saturday's middle match on Saturday.
Chaminade 3, Sonoma State 1
Neither the 'Swords or Seawolves could make a sizable run in the opening set but Chaminade scored the final three points to take a one-set lead.
After SSU took the second to knot the match a set apiece, Chaminade went on a 16-5 run to for a decisive third set victory.
The Seawolves were poised to force a fifth set, grabbing leads of 18-15 and 19-17 but
Claire Zanon (Beaverton, Ore./Jesuit) recorded a kill and two service aces to start a 5-0 CUH run. The 'Swords then completed the rally with a successful attack from
Emma Tecklenburg (Plano, Texas/Plano Senior) to win their opener.
Rachel Reedy (Temple City, Calif./Arcardia) and Saulala each put down nine kills as part of an extremely balanced Silverswords' attack. Handy put down seven spikes while Tecklenburg, Zanon and freshman
Annah Rivera (Granada Hills, Calif./Bishop Alemany) each had four.
Montrose tallied six block assists in the match while Zanon posted five, one shy of her career high, to help the 'Swords tally nine total team blocks.
Seeing her first action in two years,
Natashya Enos (Kahalu'u, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Saint Francis) got the start at setter and dished out 17 assists with nine digs.
Leka Kiner-Falefa (Honolulu/UNLV/Mid-Pacific Institute) made her debut as a Silversword and came up with 13 digs as libero but Zanon added nine.
The stats sheet was nearly balanced between both squads. Both teams had 44 kills and 35 assists while Chaminade had the edge in aces (6-5) and digs (49-46) while Sonoma State had the advantage in total team blocks (10-9).
Caiti Wiesner led the Seawolves (1-1) with 13 kills.
Chaminade 3, West Virginia State 0
After three hours of rest, the 'Swords returned to the floor against WVSU and was on their way to a an easy first set win, leading by as many as seven midway through. But the Yellow Jackets had other ideas and closed to within 21-20. Kills from Zanon and Saulala along with a WVSU attack error gave the 'Swords enough cushion to survive the first set.
A set-ending 10-4 surge put Chaminade up two-sets-to-none. The Silverswords completed the sweep by pulling away late in the third.
Handy had a match-high 14 kills while Tecklenburg powered down 11 followed by Saulala's career-high 10, surpassing her previous high set hours earlier against Sonoma State. She also hit .500 in the match.
Enos had 18 assists while
Danielle Wiley (Peoria, Ariz./Centennial) added 15. Tecklenburg collected a team-high six digs while Enos and Wiley each had five.
Montrose again came up large in the blocking category, recording two block assists and a block solo.
Chaminade had the decisive edge in kills (46-32), assists (40-24) and digs (33-22) while two teams were even in team blocks at six. The 'Swords hit .304 as a team and held West Virginia State to a .196 attack percentage.
The 'Swords conclude the Hawai'i Challenge Saturday with another doubleheader. They'll start with Minot State of North Dakota at 12:30 p.m. then face Chico State in the 7 p.m. finale. UH Hilo and Sonoma State will kick off the day at 10 a.m.
