Posted on: Saturday, November 1, 2003
BYUH clinches PacWest title
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
Fittingly on Halloween night, the sixth-ranked Brigham Young-Hawai'i women's volleyball team showed up as Terminators against 17th-ranked Hawai'i Pacific.
Yu Chuan Weng pounded a match-high 19 kills and the Seasiders used a tough defense to defeat the Sea Warriors, 30-19, 30-20, 30-28, and clinch the Pacific West Conference championship.
A crowd of 830 at the Cannon Activities Center in La'ie watched the Seasiders win their 17 consecutive match and improve to 18-2 overall and 9-0 in the conference. BYUH has swept every conference game this season. The Sea Warriors dropped their third straight and fell to 15-5 and 6-3.
"It's a relief, but our girls held up," BYUH coach Wilfred Navalta said. "We knew HPU would come with everything they had. We needed a match like this to push us and test our composure. It's great to win the conference."
In victory, the Seasiders earned the Pacific West Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA II Pacific Regional Tournament on Nov. 20-22. The top-ranked team in the Pacific region will host the Regionals.
"It feels good, we know we're going to go to regionals," said BYUH setter Kaala Lo, who finished with a match-high 47 assists and 15 digs. "Now we just have to work harder and step up our game."
HPU still can gain an at-large berth to the regionals by finishing in the top six in the region. The Sea Warriors were ranked sixth in the last regional poll earlier last month.
"The season's not done," said HPU setter Vera Oliveira, who played for the first time since injuring her lower right leg against Hawai'i-Hilo on Oct. 19. "We have to keep fighting."
HPU and BYUH have two head-to-head matches remaining: a non-conference match at La'ie on Nov. 7, and a Nov. 15 conference match at St. Andrew's Priory.
Last night, the Seasiders defense came up big, holding the Sea Warriors to .108 hitting and outblocking their taller opponents, 12 to 5. BYUH also outdug HPU, 52 to 29.
"They had everything right tonight," Oliveira said. "Their defense is awesome. They deserve to go to the regionals."
Added Navalta: "We dug a lot of balls and that gave us a chance. HPU had some guns out there, some big spikers. It was difficult to dig them, but our defense came up big tonight."
As expected, BYUH got standout performances from its two All-Americans — Weng and Chun Yi Lin — and also from outside hitter Silvia Oliveira. Lin recorded 15 kills and Silvia Oliveira added 11.
"As usual, in big matches (Weng and Lin) play well," Navalta said. "But all the other players stepped up as well. We knew everybody had to step up to win this."
In Game 1, the Seasiders trailed 11-9 before erupting for a 12-4 run to seize the momentum. During the run, Weng, Lin and Oliveira combined for five kills. BYUH finished the game hitting .361, and held the Sea Warriors to minus-.059 hitting.
HPU took a 12-10 lead in Game 2, but could not stop BYUH from going on an 8-1 run for a commanding 18-13 lead. A kill by Paula Koikopoulos pulled HPU to 20-16, but BYUH ended the game with a 10-4 run.
In Game 3, HPU led 28-26, but kills by Weng and Lin tied the game. BYUH freshman Lesina Funaki scored the game's final two points.
"Lesina is smart," Navalta said. "She played outside for Kahuku. She knows what to do against a big block. She was 'tooling' (hitting off the block)."
The two bright spots for HPU last night were the performances of Nadica Karleusa and Flavia Brakling. The two hitters finished with 10 kills each.
• Billings stops Chaminade: Olivia Munro had 21 kills and 16 digs, and Jessica Bratton added 16 kills as Montana State-Billings beat Chaminade, 30-28, 30-26, 24-30, 30-24, last night in Billings, Mont., for its first Pacific West Conference victory of the season. The Yellowjackets improved to 5-16 overall and 1-7 in the PacWest.
The Silverswords, ranked No. 7 in the Pacific Region, fell to 9-10 and 4-4.
Billings outhit the Silverswords, .213 to .138.
Chaminade's Kahala Kabalis had 20 kills and 12 digs, and Valasi Sepulona added 18 kills and 15 digs.
• Hilo swept: In another PacWest match, Western New Mexico defeated Hawai'i-Hilo, 30-23, 30-24, 30-22, last night at Silver City, N.M. Western New Mexico is 13-13 overall, 2-6 in the PacWest. Hilo is 6-13 and 3-5.
The teams play in a non-conference match today.
