HONOLULU – A night after losing both their matches and an 0-2 start that came with it, the Chaminade University women's volleyball team redeemed themselves with a double win Sunday in the second and final day of the PacWest Hawai'i Spring Tournament at the Hawai'i Pacific University Shark Tank.
The Silverswords defeated Hawai'i Hilo in the morning session in five sets, 25-23, 25-21, 22-25, 22-25, 15-10. In what has become a pattern between the two squads, it was the fifth consecutive match that has gone to five.
Then in the evening, the 'Swords brought out the brooms to sweep host HPU, 25-19, 25-19, 25-17, which evened their record to 2-2.
Brooklen Pe'a (Woods Cross, Utah/Youngstown State/Bountiful HS) completed an impressive four-match debut with 29 combined kills and 12 total blocks.
Rachel Reedy (Temple City, Calif./Arcardia) added 27 more kills and eight blocks.
Chaminade 3, UH Hilo 2
The roles were reversed on Sunday after UH Hilo had won the first two sets on Saturday before winning the fifth.
The 'Swords rallied from 22-20 down in the first set when Pe'a accounted for three points with
Lataisia Saulala (Morgan Hills, Calif./Oakwood) and Reedy accounting for two more each during the set-ending 5-1 run. Chaminade also snapped a 21-all tie by forcing three UH Hilo hitting errors to win the final four points to take a two-set lead.
Set 3 was similar to the first with the Vulcans owning a 22-20 advantage, but on this occasion, they survived to win the set. In the fourth, UH Hilo threatened a decisive win with a 24-13 lead. However the 'Swords got three points from Reedy and forced four hitting errors during a 9-0 run to close to within two. But a block from Ashton Jessee and Samara Cruz ended the set to force a fifth.
Then tied at 6 in the final set,
Annah Rivera (Granada Hills, Calif./Bishop Alemany),
Claire Zanon (Beaverton, Ore./Jesuit) and
Kyra McCain (Chandler, Ariz./Hamilton) each put down consecutive kills in a key 3-0 run. Chaminade put together another three straight points with two Pe'a kills and a Zanon service ace to set up aloha ball. Pe'a then ended it with the match's final kill.
Reedy put down a match-high 18 kills and hit .500 while Pe'a added 17 more kills and seven block assists. Zanon had 11 kills, 18 digs and three service aces.
Wiley had 32 assists and 20 digs while
Riley Lynch (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Kalaheo) re-set her career-high with 22 assists.
Meanwhile the Chaminade block continued to wreak havoc with 15 total team blocks. Saulala tied the school record with 11 block assists while Reedy had five.
The 'Swords amassed 65 kills and hit .234 while limiting the Vulcans to 50 kills and a .098 percentage.
Chaminade 3, HPU 0
After a few hours of rest, the 'Swords returned to The Shark Tank and put on a show.
Although HPU (1-3) maintained a two-point lead for most of the set, the teams kept siding out until the Silverswords took a 16-15 lead on Rivera's ace. It was their first since early in the set, part of a 5-0 run that put them up 18-15. Ultimately it was a flurry of aces from Rivera and Zanon, who had two each which accounted for four of Chaminade's final 10 points of the set.
Chaminade took control of Set 2 fairly early. A 9-2 run paced by three blocks assists from Reedy put them up, 11-5. HPU closed to 19-16 but Pe'a put down the final two kills to put the Silverswords up, 2-sets-to-none.
Although McCain made her presence felt with the block throughout the tournament, this time she contributed with the attack. The freshman put down three kills during a run of six consecutive 'Swords' points which helped stretched their lead to 15-7 which they never relinquished.
Pe'a put down a match-high 12 kills while also recording four block assists and one solo. Reedy had nine while hitting .412 while McCain had a season-best eight kills.
Wiley had 27 assists while Lynch contributed with 16. Zanon had seven kills, 10 digs and three aces which helped Chaminade hit .381 on the evening. They out-pointed the Sharks in the kills department, 46 to 34 and had eight total team blocks to HPU's four.
The Silverswords will meet the Sharks and Vulcans again in two weeks when it's UH Hilo's turn to host the second of the PacWest Hawai'i Spring Tournaments on April 2 and 3.
