Posted on: Saturday, December 7, 2002

BYUH plays Truman for Division II title

By Jeremy Heath
Special to The Advertiser

CANYON, Texas — Kaala Lo got the ball to the right spots and Chun Yi Lin found the floor 21 times as the Brigham Young-Hawai'i Seasiders advanced to the Division II national title match with a victory over the University of Tampa last night.

The scores were 27-30, 30-25, 30-26, 30-26.

The Seasiders improve to 26-2 with the win. Tampa finishes its season at 28-7. The Seasiders will play Truman (28-8) in tonight's championship match. Truman defeated Grand Valley State, (32-2), 30-27, 31-29, 26-30, 30-22, in the second semifinal.

Lo had 46 of her team's 59 total assists and seemed to find just the right person to get the ball to all night as four Seasiders finished with 10 or more kills.

Lin turned out to be Lo's favorite outlet. Lin finished with 21 kills, attacking at a .325 clip. Lin also was dominant at the net, with three block assists and two block solos. Her biggest block came late in Game 4 with the Seasiders trying to hold off a strong Spartan rally. The Seasiders had led Game 4, 21-14, before the Spartans got hot. With the Seasiders up 27-26 and the Spartans charging, Tampa's go-to player Tiffany Boatwright went up for the game-tying kill but was rejected by Lin. The block took the air out of the Spartans, who committed two errors on the final two points.

Seasider head coach Wilfred Navalta said Lin's performance was key, but that it was set up by the great reads and sets by Lo.

"The thing is: we don't really focus on who gets the most kills. Kaala does a lot of reading and she makes the plays according to our rotation and according to our game plan, and if she makes the right read, the other players will have a lot of opportunities," Navalta said. "Like last night, Ashley Moeai was the one with 21 kills, and tonight because of the different opponent, Lin was a big part of the offense."

Moeai didn't have the big kill total last night, but she did find the floor 14 times and attacked at .300 percent. She also was effective at the net with two block assists and a block solo.

Yu Chuan Weng and Leiau Meatoga also were key to the Seasider offense, knocking down 13 and 10 kills respectively.

Lo said Navalta gives her some freedom on the court and gives her some easy plays to help her get into a rhythm early in matches.

"He gives me a lot of freedom, and when I'm baffled or I get a little tense, then he'll just give me an easy play, a simple set, and that can help me gain my composure back," Lo said.