ATHERTON, California – Hawai’i Hilo Women’s Volleyball rebounded from an opening-set defeat to down Menlo in four sets (17-25, 25-12, 25-11, 25-21) Thursday evening in Pacific West Conference play at the Haynes-Prim Pavilion.
The Vulcans got off to a good start to open with three straight points, but the Oaks rallied to take nine of the next 10 points and rode the momentum to a Set 1 victory.
Chase Koepke got things going in Set 2 and the Vulcans never looked back as the sophomore finished with 13 kills (.303) and three blocks. Taylor Tullo also tallied up a match-leading 13 kills (.500).
“We just played really clean volleyball in the second and third sets. I told the team in the middle of the match that we were playing as the team that I know we are,” sixth-year Hawai’i Hilo head coach Chris Leonard said.
After committing seven attack errors in the opening set, the Vulcans had just eight total the rest of the way. Hawai’i Hilo also had its presence known upfront with 11 blocks to just five from Menlo.
The two teams had just met up in Hilo nearly two weeks prior with the Vulcans coming away with a sweep in that contest.
With the victory, Leonard brought his win total to 79 as Vulcans head coach, moving up to No. 2 all-time in program history.
“I’ve had an opportunity to see a lot and do a lot, and I’m very fortunate to be able to coach our hometown team,” Leonard said. “The numbers are nice and it’s a reflection of a handful of years of work, but really our focus at this point is about our next match and trying to be as competitive as we can to put ourselves in a position to take a shot at a PacWest title and get back into the NCAA tournament.”
Leonard moves past Tino Reyes (2010-2016) and now sits behind Hall of Fame coach Sharon Peterson (1978-2002) and her all-time mark of 513 victories.
Hawai’i Hilo moved to 4-1 in the PacWest (9-6 overall) as Menlo moved to a 1-5 conference record (4-9 overall).
The Vulcans close their Northern California road trip Saturday, Oct. 5 against Jessup (1-3).
Early through the PacWest season, the Vulcans are slotted in at a tie for No. 4 (with Fresno Pacific) as No. 20 Point Loma (6-0) and No. 9 Chaminade (5-0) stand unbeaten at the top.
Next home games will be a seven-match slate — sandwiched around two O’ahu contests — starting Oct. 10 and running through the beginning of November.
