POMONA, Calif. – For the second straight season, the Chaminade University and San Francisco State University women's volleyball teams faced in each other in a five-set battle.
And like the encounter in August 2022 at the Hawai'i Convention Center, it was the Silverswords who came out on top.
Chaminade opened the Cal Poly Pomona/Azusa Pacific Crossover tournament Friday with a 25-20, 25-21, 18-25, 15-25, 15-6 win at the Kellogg Center.
Playing as a national-ranked squad for the first time this season, the 20th-ranked Silverswords got a match-high 15 kills from reigning Pacific West Conference Player of the Week
Ajack Malual (Rome, Italy/Tambosi ETI, 12 from
Greta Corti (Varese, Italy/Univ. of San Francisco/Alessandro Manzoni Liceo HS) and 10 from
Mahala Ka'apuni (Hilo, Hawai'i/Alaska Anchorage/Hilo HS) to improve them to 9-0 on the season, matching the 2018 team for the best start in program history.
Malual also served consecutively all three of her service aces during a key stretch in the fifth set to help the 'Swords pull away after they had won the first two. Corti was one dig away from a double-double while serving a season-high-tying four aces while Ka'apuni's three blocks was a season-high.
Lizanyela Lopez (Lima, Peru/Trinity Valley CC/Saco Oliveros HS) added six kills and three blocks with
Leilani Ama (Spokane, Wash./Mt. Spokane) providing 27 assists and 10 digs.
Hula Crisostomo (Honolulu/Univ. of Texas El Paso/Moanalua HS) had 27 digs and
Nanna Inoue (Kula, Maui, Hawai'i/Tyler JC/King Kekaulike HS) contributed with 11.
The Gators were led by Tamiya Wilson's 14 kills in falling to 3-3 on the season.
Chaminade rolled to a 6-1 lead to help them win the first set, thanks to hitting .343 and limiting SFSU to a mere .024 attack percentage.
However, the Gators responded and, leading 19-13, were in position to take the second set and tie the match at one. Ka'apuni's kill followed by consecutive aces from Inoue. Corti got three points on two kills and a block solo to help the 'Swords end the set on a 12-2 surge to take a two-set lead.
San Francisco State took staved off a sweep by winning the third set and with momentum on its side, roared out to a 15-7 lead in the fourth, setting up a decisive fifth, Chaminade's first such match this season.
Tied at 2, the 'Swords got two Ka'apuni kills while Lopez and Ama combined for a block to give them a 6-2 lead. Malual then completed their 7-0 run with back-to-back-to-back aces to put Chaminade comfortably up 9-2. Fittingly, the Silverswords ended the match with a Corti ace.
In the end, the service line was one of Chaminade's biggest weapon with 13 aces, 10 coming in the sets which they won. Otherwise, the numbers were nearly even with CUH winning the battle stat line in kills (49-47), assists (44-41) and digs (70-69) while SFSU had a 9-to-7 edge in total team blocks.
The Silverswords will face Northwest Nazarene later this afternoon at noon Hawai'i time.
