LA MIRADA, Calif. – Historically, the Chaminade University women's volleyball team has struggled against the Pacific West Conference's Southern California teams at their own houses. Considering all their success thus far, the Silverswords were hoping that 2021 would be different.
However, history reared its ugly head again as the 'Swords opened their SoCal road trip with a 25-20, 27-25, 25-13 defeat to Biola in front of a raucous crowd of 145 at Chase Gymnasium.
Marcelle Butler (Woodstock, Ga./Howard University/Sequoyah HS) led the 'Swords with nine kills while
Greta Corti (Varese, Italy/University of San Francisco/Alessandro Manzoni Liceo HS) added six as the Silverswords were swept for the first time this season.
Chaminade fell to 19-5 overall and 9-3 in the Pacific West Conference. Biola, which had four players with eight kills each, improved to 12-7 and 8-3. The Eagles also swept the season series, meaning they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker in the event of a deadlock in the conference standings.
The Silverswords were held to a .068 attack percentage, their lowest since November 2014 when they hit .046 at Point Loma. Biola hit .227 and out-blocked Chaminade, 9-to-4.
Everything started swimmingly for the 'Swords who scored the first four points of the match. Biola went on an 8-0 run while Chaminade later counted with four straight points of its own to knot the set at 15. But the Eagles ran off five straight which helped them take the first set.
Despite Biola scoring the first four points of the second set and later trailing 18-14, the 'Swords got two service aces from
Tate Lutu (Honolulu/Sacred Hearts Academy), a kill from Corti and another from
Kyra McCain (Chandler, Ariz./Hamilton), who played her first match in nearly three weeks, to take a 19-18 lead.
Chaminade was poised to tie the match, holding a 23-20 lead but the Eagles stormed back on a 4-0 run to set up set point. The 'Swords got a double-block from
Lataisia Saulala (Morgan Hill, Calif./Oakwood) and
Brooklen Pe'a (Woods Cross, Utah/Youngstown State University/Bountiful HS) to set up their own set point at 25-24 but Biola got three straight to end the set and take a two-set lead.
The rally seemed to take the steam out of the 'Swords, who saw the Eagles go on spurts of 4-0 and 5-0. Another 5-0 run ended the match.
Saulala, McCain and Pe'a each had five kills while
Alexia Byrnes (Chicago/Youngstown State University/Saint Francis HS) dished out 24 assists.
Anna Dalla Vecchia's (Vicenza, Italy/University of San Francisco/IIS S.B. Boscardin HS) 13 digs kept her streak of double-figures digs intact at 13 straight.
The Silverswords will look to get back on track Tuesday as they face Concordia University Irvine, which swept PacWest leader Hawai'i Hilo in straight sets on Monday, ending the Vulcans' eight-match winning streak. Chaminade has never won at CU Arena in five tries.
