San Francisco, CA (10/6/10) – At Kezar Pavilion, the HPU women's volleyball team defeated Academy of Art University, 3-1. The Lady Sea Warriors improve to 9-2 overall and 3-1 in the PacWest, while AAU drops to 9-6 overall and 5-1 in conference.
Kelly Balanay (San Diego, CA) posted a career-high 10 blocks to lead HPU, who opened its five game PacWest road trip with a win. “It was one of the best defensive efforts I've seen on both sides of the court,” said Head Coach Daryl Kapis. “There were some great rallies tonight.”
Natasha Bell (Sunnyvale, CA) recorded 14 kills and 16 digs for HPU and Sanoe Recca (Waimanalo, HI) added 15 kills and 10 digs.
Dan Yang paced the Urban Knights with 21 kills.
After winning game one handily, the Sea Warriors rallied to win game two and take a commanding 2-0 lead. HPU trailed 14-9 before a pair of kills by Courtney Curran (Long Beach, CA) and Recca helped cut the lead to 19-17. The Sea Warriors kept the rally going as Recca recorded a pair of kills down the stretch to seal the win.
After AAU responded with a win to push the match to a fourth set, the Sea Warriors won a close fourth game to earn the win.
Bell also recorded five blocks, with Balanay posting nine kills and Tricia Yoshimura (Honolulu, HI) adding 15 digs.
HPU now travels to Dixie State College for a match versus the Red Storm this Friday, October 8. Start time is set at 5:00 p.m. Mountain Time.
