The ups and downs continued for the University of Hawaii at Hilo volleyball team Friday night in San Francisco. Patty Snel’s most efficient match of the season and another busy effort from Bria Morgan were just enough to put the
The ups and downs continued for the University of Hawaii at Hilo volleyball team Friday night in San Francisco. Patty Snel’s most efficient match of the season and another busy effort from Bria Morgan were just enough to put the Vulcans over the top.
Snel recorded 15 kills on .382 hitting and Morgan ripped a match-high 26 kills to spark UH-Hilo past Academy of Art University in five games 23-25, 25-21, 25-9, 17-25, 15-11.
Snel, a senior outside hitter, made only two errors and added a match-high 29 digs as UH-Hilo (3-9) evened its Pacific West Conference record at 3-3. Morgan, a freshman outside hitter who hit .121, has led her team in kills in all but one match this season. Her 91 swings Friday tied a career high. After losing eight of nine to open the season at home, the Vulcans took advantage of the last-place Urban Knights (3-11, 0-5) to improve to 2-1 on a five-match California road trip.
“The girls pulled out a win when we really weren’t playing that well,” UH-Hilo coach Tino Reyes said. “And that’s good for us.
In the decisive game, an Urban Knights hitting error and a kill by Morgan gave the Vulcans a 6-4 lead, and they never trailed again.
As usual, nothing came easy though for UH-Hilo. It didn’t make a hitting error in dominating the third game, then promptly turned around and hit only .023 in Game 4 as Academy of Art tied the match.
“We’re just hanging on by the skin of our teeth,” Reyes said. “Maybe if we had played like this (in a four-game loss to Dominican on Wednesday), things would have turned out differently there.”
Sophomore middle blocker Lindsay Elgin posted seven of her career-high 20 kills in the fourth game and made only two errors to finish with a robust .545 hitting percentage. Rachael Smith tallied 52 assists, but with the Urban Knights trailing 12-11 in Game 5, a pair of faulty sets by the freshman helped seal the match for UH-Hilo.
Freshmen setter Jolie Au registered 36 assists for the Vulcans, while sophomore middle blockers Olivia Lane and Abbey Wade each added three kills. Senior outside hitter Melissa Chavez provided a spark with her serve early in Game 3, ripping five aces as UH-Hilo reeled off seven consecutive points to take an 8-0 lead.
Freshman outside hitter Andi Pickens added three aces for the Vulcans, who finished with 12. The Urban Knights had four aces.
UH-Hilo has a chance to pick up more momentum at 4 p.m. today when it faces another winless PacWest foe, Notre Dame de Namur (1-12, 0-4), in Belmont, Calif.
