Box Score RIVERSIDE, CA (November 6, 2014) – The Hawai'i Pacific Volleyball Team (14-9, 12-5) went to a fifth set for the third consecutive match on Thursday but prevailed over host California Baptist (25-21, 21-25, 25-23, 18-25, 15-12).
In the fifth set, Cal Baptist (15-10, 11-6) claimed an early 4-2 lead but then
Pomai Recca took over. Recca put away four kills with one CBU point in between to give HPU the 6-5 lead. The set ended up being tied at 11 before
Kasey Thompson and
Elizabeth Culpepper each registered kills to take a 13-11 lead. ,The home team was then forced into errors that ended the match.
Tonight game was extremely important because of future scheduling implications. The top four PacWest teams will play the top four GNAC schools next fall to start the season. If in the top four, the increased strength of schedule and potential for a signature win are both things the NCAA postseason committee looks favorably upon. With the win, HPU hangs in fifth place while knocking CBU into sixth.
HPU started off the match with a win in the opening set 25-21 before CBU returned the favor in the second set by the exact same score. The third set was a dogfight that saw HPU leading 24-21, CBU fought off two set points but
Haley Doerfler ended it with a kill. The Lancers cruised to a win in the fourth set to force a fifth.
"We had a super slow start and then we kicked it into another gear," said Head Coach
Daryl Kapis. "Senior setter
Marie Fujii came off the bench and did a great job. The team did a great job executing our game plan."
Recca led the way with 20 kills, Culpepper (19), Thompson (11) and Doerfler (11) each had double-figure kill nights. Fujii turned in a game-high 55 assists to go with 12 digs.
Amanda Moriarty had a team-high 20 digs.
HPU has another big game on Saturday as it travels to St. George, Utah to play second place Dixie State.
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