HONOLULU – With the newly resurrected Pacific West Conference Championships held at McCabe Gymnasium, the Chaminade University women's volleyball team was hoping to use home court advantage for an extended postseason.
Instead, they ran into a Fresno Pacific University squad that may be peaking at the right time.
The Silverswords, the No. 3 seed in the PacWest Championships, managed to push the second-seeded Sunbirds in Thursday's second semifinal match before succumbing, 25-14, 23-25, 25-21, 25-12, in front of a boisterous home crowd of 228.
Reina Krueger (Fort Collins, Colo./Liberty Commons) put down a team-high nine kills while All-PacWest Second Team honorees
Tabby Allen (Leander, Texas/Rouse) and
Alizaysha Sopi (Waianae, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Tennessee State University/Kapolei HS) each put down eight as the 'Swords, whose youthful roster was ravaged with injury midway through the year, saw their season end at 16-14. Allen and Sopi also had three total blocks.
Beele Wieczorek (Wiesbaden, Germany/Elly-Heuss School) added another seven kills while conference freshman of the year
Lillie Hinton (Spicewood, Texas/Lake Travis) put down six.
Allexis Iramina (Honolulu/Moanalua) and
Lilinoe Paschoal (Wailuku, Maui, Hawai'i/Baldwin) each dished out 18 assists with
Sina Bauer (Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany/Maximillian-von-Montgelas Gymnasium Vilsbiburg) and
Malena Mihalik (Santa Fe, Argentina/San Eugenio) getting 13 and 10 digs, respectively.
Fresno Pacific, which is also ranked No. 10 in the AVCA Coaches Poll, got 12 kills apiece from Madelyn Feramisco and Cambria Waites. The Sunbirds (24-1) will face top-seeded Point Loma in Friday's championship match with the winner getting the PacWest's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II West Regional. The Sea Lions advanced to the title match with a four-set win over the University of Hawai'i Hilo in the first semifinal.
The PacWest is holding its first postseason tournament after a 25-year hiatus after last holding it for three years from 1998 to 2000.
FPU had convincing wins in the first and fourth sets, thanks to its offense, which did not commit a single attack error in both sets.
But the frames in which the 'Swords were able to force mistakes, they managed to stay with the Sunbirds. In the second set, they grabbed a 19-14 lead then survived a Fresno Pacific rally with a Sopi kill for their 24th point then forcing a hitting error at set point to force a one-set tie.
The 'Swords managed to force a 19-all tie in Set 3 before the Sunbirds scored six of the frame's final eight points to take the frame.
Chaminade hit .169 with 46 kills, 40 assists, 55 digs, three service aces and seven total team blocks. Fresno Pacific had a .275 attack percentage with 49 kills, 42 assists, 49 digs, 10 aces and 11 total blocks.
