BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Playing five sets is beginning to appear as a norm for the Chaminade University women's volleyball team.
In the morning session in the final day of the Western Washington Invitational, the Silverswords nearly squandered a two-set lead against Central Washington and appeared to be a sitting duck down 10-6 in the fifth before mounting a furious rally to survive a 25-22, 25-19, 16-25, 26-28, 15-12 win at Carver Gym.
Chaminade (6-1), which has four five-set matches just two weeks into the fall 2021 season, will face host Western Washington, the 14th-ranked team in the nation, in a battle of Invitational undefeated squads in the tournament finale this afternoon.
Greta Corti (Varese, Italy/University of San Francisco/Alessandro Manzoni Liceo HS) and
Brooklen Pe'a (Woods Cross, Utah/Youngstown State/Bountiful HS) each had 15 kills to pace the 'Swords while
Lataisia Saulala (Morgan Hill, Calif./Oakwood) and
Marcelle Butler (Woodstock, Ga./Howard University/Sequoyah HS) put down 10 each.
Ashley Kaufman led the Wildcats (1-2) with a match-high 19 kills.
After taking the first set, Chaminade won the second with relative ease. But in the third set, Central Washington used a 10-2 run to help them force extra sets. In the fourth, the 'Swords committed 10 attack errors to help CWU square the match.
Chaminade, having appeared to have lost the momentum, trailed 10-6 with a grim outlook ahead. Following a timeout, the 'Swords reeled off six consecutive points when Pe'a put down two kills and assisted with
Kyra McCain (Chandler, Ariz./Hamilton) on a block to put them up 12-10. Pe'a and Saulala then team for another block to up them up 14-12 then CWU hit an attack into the net on aloha ball.
Saulala had six total blocks and
Kendall Rios (Santa Ana, Calif./Foothill) had three of the team's nine service aces.
Alexia Byrnes (Chicago/Youngstown State/Saint Francis HS) had 48 assists and
Anna Dalla Vecchia (Vicezna, Italy/University of San Francisco/IIS S.B. Boscardin HS) came up with 26 digs.
Chaminade hit .211 for the match with 65 kills while Central Washington hit .226 and 62 kills.
The Silverswords-Vikings match gets underway at 1 p.m. Hawai'i time.
