No. 1 HPU beats Chaminade in five
By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
It wobbled, it lurched, it got a queen-sized boo boo on its shoulder, but the streak lives.
The Hawai'i Pacific volleyball team withstood a ferocious assault by Chaminade last night at the Blaisdell Arena to come away with a 30-24, 24-30, 30-23, 25-30, 15-10 victory.
With the win, the Lady Sea Warriors (13-0 overall, 7-0 Pacific West Conference) tied Nebraska Kearney for second place in consecutive NCAA II victories with 41. They are now five games shy of tying the record held set by Ferris State in 1984.
Roberta Robert led HPU with 24 kills on .227 hitting and 24 digs. Andrea Wean contributed 20 kills on .250 hitting with nine digs and three blocks. Nia Tuitele, who gave HPU fans a scare when she injured her shoulder in a collision with Robert in the second game, notched a match-high 54 assists to go with eight digs.
Chaminade was led by freshman Valasi Sepulona, who had 20 kills (.145 hitting) and 13 digs. Julia Hastert had 15 kills and 22 digs, and Janeen Waialae added 52 assists and nine digs.
"I think we got lucky," said HPU head coach Tita Ahuna. "Chaminade came out with fire and they made us step up our game. They did everything well tonight."
After splitting the first two games, HPU trailed 16-11 in the third game. The Sea Warriors fought back to tie 21-21, then sealed the game with a 9-2 run highlighted by a twisting, off-balance hit by Teisa Fotu that somehow fell between three Silversword players.
Throughout the match, the Silverswords, who last week pulled off a pair of upsets over then No. 22 Brigham Young-Hawai'i, gave HPU all it could handle. They attacked HPU's block on offense, and on defense spit back everything HPU tried to feed them.
The Silverswords seemed to be in control of the fourth game, leading 27-21, but they gave up five points and a ton of momentum before closing out the set.
The momentum carried over to the final game, when Wean knocked down four kills as HPU took control with an 8-2 opening run.
• BYUH wins in four: Karla Ribeiro had 18 kills and hit .429, and Ashley Moeai added 15 kills as Brigham Young-Hawai'i defeated Hawai'i-Hilo, 30-22, 25-30, 30-16, 30-27, in a Pacific West Conference match last night at Hilo.
Ribeiro had only three errors in 35 attempts.
BYUH improved to 6-4 overall and 2-3 in the PacWest. UHH dropped to 6-9 and 1-6.
