Box Score HONOLULU, HI (August 31, 2013) – Over the long off-season the anticipation and expectations grew for the Hawai'i Pacific Volleyball Team, if one match is any indication, HPU fans have something to be excited about. HPU (1-0) rolled over the visiting University of Alaska (0-4) in three sets (25-19, 25-13, 25-19), never trailing in the match.

"It was nice to compete against somebody else after a long training camp," said HPU Head Coach Daryl Kapis. "It was a total team effort with Kasey (Thompson), Haley (Doerfler), and Pomai (Recca) having great hitting nights. We did an excellent job keeping our hitting errors down, especially for this early in the season."

Kapis, who earned the 96th win of his HPU career, had good reason to celebrate Thompson, Doerfler, and Recca. Thompson, now a sophomore, hit a robust .692 for the game while earning 10 kills in 13 swings. Doerfler was virtually unstoppable in the middle with nine kills in 12 attempts (.750). Recca, making her colligate debut, gave the Sea Warrior faithful a look at the future with a team-high 12 kills while hitting .385 from the outside.

The Sea Warriors were in a battle early; despite leading 4-0, Alaska tied the first set at nine and 14. A pair of late 4-0 mini-runs propelled HPU to victory punctuated by a Recca kill to win 25-19.

HPU was seldom challenged in final two sets. HPU doubled up Alaska's score most of the second set, and had an eight point lead late in the third set before letting the reserves see some action. In fact, 14 Sea Warriors saw time on opening night.

Newcomer Marie Fujii got the start at setter and passed out 22 assists to go with three service aces.

The HPU defense was stout, holding Alaska to a .133 hitting percentage (as opposed to .337 for HPU). The Columbia Blue and Kelley Green had seven total blocks, with four block assists coming from Doerfler. Starting libero Chelsey Buyuan had a game-high eight digs with Recca right behind her with seven.

HPU is off until Thursday when Chico State comes to visit St. Andrew's Priory at 7:00 p.m.