Marley Strand-Nicolaisen returned to form, and the University of Hawaii at Hilo stayed in the win column. ADVERTISING Marley Strand-Nicolaisen returned to form, and the University of Hawaii at Hilo stayed in the win column. Strand-Nicolaisen smacked 15 kills and
Marley Strand-Nicolaisen returned to form, and the University of Hawaii at Hilo stayed in the win column.
Strand-Nicolaisen smacked 15 kills and the Vulcans swept Chaminade 25-17, 25-20, 25-23 on Saturday night for their second consecutive home victory to begin Pacific West Conference play.
UH-Hilo (3-2) turned the tables on a Silverswords team that it lost to two weeks ago, and this time around neither team was strong offensively.
Two nights after she came off the bench and watched Callie Aberle star in victory against Hawaii Pacific, Strand-Nicolaisen took 41 swings and hit .248. Aberle posted seven kills on 40 attempts, and Kyndra Trevino-Scott added six kills.
Strand-Nicolaisen and Aberle each contributed 11 digs for UH-Hilo, which won the hitting battle .183-.123.
Cassie Rushlow led Chaminade (7-5, 0-2) with 11 kills. Hilo High graduate Waihilo Chartrand posted a match-high 19 digs to go along with a pair of aces.
The Silverswords’ Suncica Bakic tied Game 3 at 22-all with an ace, but she followed that with a service error, and Kahea Vento-Rowe’s ace prompted match point.
After a kill by Madalene Barrett, Aberle and Shelby Harguess blocked Rushlow to end it.
The Silverswords were hurt by eight service errors.
UH sweep: Tai Manu-Olevao led the way with 13 kills, and the University of Hawaii swept Northern Arizona for the second consecutive night, 25-20, 25-23, 25-18 in Honolulu.
“Tai had a great night and really carried us,” UH coach Dave Shoji said on the OCSports broadcast. “We need to have somebody step up like that every night.”
Manu-Olevao hit .414 for Hawaii (8-3), which also received eight kills apiece from Nikki Taylor and Kalei Adolpho. Olivia Magill added seven.
Taylor Higgins served four of her team’s nine aces.
Lauren Jacobsen and Sydney Kemper tallied nine kills apiece for the Lumberjacks (8-3).
Golf
Kyeton Littel (71) and Dalen Yamauchi (72) led the Vulcans to a fifth-place finish at the season-opening St. Martin’s Invitational in Olympia, Wash.
Littel and Yamauchi tied for 14th at 2-over 215 as the Vulcans (867) finished 29 strokes behind first-place Simon Fraser.
Nicholas Matsushima posted UH-Hilo’s best round of the day with a 70, tying for 18th at 5-over.
“That’s encouraging,” coach Earl Tamiya said. “Hopefully, he can carry that on to the next tournament.”
Also for the Vulcans, James Coon (73) finished tied for 38th at 10-over, Connor Graves (76) was at 13-over in a tie for 44th and David Tottori (72) tied for 47th at 14-over.
Western Washington’s Anthony Allen and British Columbia’s Evan Holmes claimed medalist honors at 6-under.
Cross-country
Anna Mikkelsen placed eighth in the 5-kilometer run at the Brigham Young University-Hawaii Invitational.
The Vulcans came in fourth. Joining Mikkelsen (19 minutes, 50 seconds) were Jordan Concannon (19th, 21:16), Nina Kapuni (26th, 22:22), Shelby Tanaka (27th, 22:23), Kaylee Rapoza (29th, 22:48), Megan Washburn (30th, 22:51) and June Garrett (33rd, 24:09).
