Box Score HONOLULU, HI (September 20, 2013) - On a night when the Hawai'i Pacific Athletics Department received an award for its outstanding service, the volleyball team' s service game was equally as strong. HPU tallied 12 aces in a five-set win over visiting Hawaii Hilo (5-1, 0-1) in front of a loud St. Andrew's Priory crowd (25-16, 25-17, 18-25, 28-30, 15-10).
Despite compiling a 6-2 record in non-conference play, the Hawai'i Pacific Volleyball Team (7-2, 1-0) still had some holes. One of them was the service game, HPU averaged just 1.11 aces per set, good for 12th in the league.
"We had a huge focus this week of serving tough and it paid off," said HPU Head Coach
Daryl Kapis.
An early season strength for HPU has been the blocking, it was on full display in the conference opener. The Sea Warrior racked up 15.5 blocks.
Haley Doerfler was strong with 10 block assists and three solo rejections.
"Our team did a really good job understanding every rotation that Hilo had. We understood what their options were out of serve receive and how to block it," said Kapis.
The game featured peaks and valleys for both sides. First it appeared that HPU would get an easy sweep, after handily winning the first and second sets (25-16 and 25-17).
Between the second and third sets, PacWest Commissioner Bob Hogue presented HPU with the 2012-13 Pacific West Conference Community Engagement Award.
The third set was almost completely opposite the first two, with the Vulcans enjoying a 25-18 win.
The set of the night was the fourth set, although HPU fell. It featured eight ties and four lead changes, most late in the set. The set would be deadlocked at 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28 with both factions of fans roaring after each kill.
The fifth set was a flashback to early in the match as HPU looked dominant. The Sea Warriors came firing out of the gates with 4-1 and 10-3 leads.
"Its always good to get a conference win, especially against another Hawaii team," said Kapis.
HPU spread out the stats with three players registering double-figure kill nights. Recca led the way with 14 kills,
Samantha Rummans had 13, as
Kasey Thompson picked up 11. Doerfler had eight kills while hitting a team best .353.
Buyuan had a game-high 24 digs, Recca had 12, and
Amanda Moriarty added 10.
HPU is back in action tomorrow against Chaminade at McCabe Gym at 7:00 pm.
