BELMONT, Calif. — Senior Pomai Recca collected her first 30 kill match of the season in leading Hawai'i Pacific University to a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Notre Dame de Namur in PacWest play Monday night at Gleason Gym.
 
Recca, the senior outside hitter from Waimanalo, Hawai'i/Kamehameha-Kapalama, recorded a career-high 31 kills with a .411 hitting percentage with 20 digs as she led the Sharks (6-6, 2-1) to a 23-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-18, 15-12 win over the home standing Argonauts (3-9, 1-3).
 
Adding to Recca's career night was HPU freshman outside hitter Perla Escobar of Calexico, Calif./Calexico, who double-doubled with 16 kills and 13 digs, while junior middle blocker Lea Felton of Sacramento, Calif./St. Francis chalked up 10 kills and five blocks with a .562 hitting percentage.
 
NDNU's Bianca Alverez matched Recca's 31 kill total and added 16 digs and four blocks. Dominque Tarrant and Nicole Christie each added eight kills.
 
The Sharks outhit the Argos .242 to .201 despite NDNU getting 11.0 blocks to 6.0 for HPU.
 
The tight match didn't start well for the Sharks.
 
In set one, both teams had four-point leads the other erased, including the Sharks coming back from being down 21-17 to getting the set tied at 23.  Unfortunately for HPU, the Argos got kills from Alvarez and Megan Timmons to take a 25-23 win.
 
In the second, HPU came back from a 6-1 deficit to battle NDNU to a 21-all tie. But the Argos got four of the next five points to post a 25-22 win and a 2-0 advantage in sets.
 
The Sharks roared back early in the third, going up 6-2 and never trailed in the set. Now that didn't mean HPU didn't have to hold on. Recca got a kill, followed by the set-winner from Carson Pyle to give the Sharks a 25-22 win.
 
The team battled in the fourth down to a 17-all tie before Hawai'i Pacific got on a roll. Recca and Felton keyed a five-point run that became a game-closing 8-1 run. Alison McCollum got the last two kills as HPU hit .368 for the set in the 25-18 win.
 
Both teams hit well in the final set, with the Sharks hitting .375 and the Argonauts .368. But it was HPU going on a 5-1 run to open up the set for a 14-10 lead.  NDNU took advantage of a Shark service error on the first match point to close the gap to 14-12. Following a timeout it was the senior Recca who ended it with a kill for HPU on the second match point for the 15-12 deciding set victory.
 
The win was the beginning of a four-game northern California swing, with HPU in action again on Wednesday at Fresno Pacific for a 4 p.m. HST (7 p.m. PDT) contest. The Sharks also travel to Holy Names on Thursday and Dominican (Calif.) on Saturday.
 
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