The UH-Hilo volleyball team is closing in on a perfect ending to their head-spinning regular season.

If the Vulcans beat struggling HPU (4-8 PacWest, 10-14 overall) on Saturday, they'll finish the regular season at 14-0 (23-5) and make an iron-clad argument for a spot in the NCAA Division II Regional playoffs, which starts Nov. 15.

UH-Hilo finished last season at 3-12 in the conference and was predicted to finish sixth this year in the preseason coaches' poll.

The Vulcans clinched the PacWest championship outright with a win over Grand Canyon on Oct. 27.

With the championship came automatic conference coach-of-the-year honors for first-year head coach Dr. Bruce Atkinson.

Atkinson, a BYUH graduate, has proven to be a whiz at building teams from the ground up. In his previous head coaching stop, he led a start-up Texas-Brownsville program to a 28-11 season.

"Hilo has been the consistent performer in our league," said Chaminade head coach Glennie Adams. "The rest of us have been up and down and getting beat up by each other. That's been the story of our conference."

The battles continue this week as the Silverswords (7-5, 14-6) face HPU on Thursday before closing out the season against BYUH in a match that could determine second place in the conference.

Chaminade, which trails the Seasiders (8-5, 12-9) by half a game, has been on a hot streak of late, rebounding from the loss of sophomore middle blocker Vanja Radanovic to win its last five matches.

Radanovic went down with a season-ending injury in a game against UH-Hilo. She's expected to be back at full strength next season after having surgery last week.

Key to the Silverswords' recent surge has been the stellar play of Radanovic's replacement, sophomore outside hitter Caitlin Dowd.

"Her best asset is that she's even tempered," Adams said. "She just goes with the flow and she's taken on this learning process as an opportunity to get on the floor. She's not a real natural at that position, but what she's done is remarkable considering what a big factor Vanja was on the floor."

Adams has also been getting big contributions from hitters Samantha Miller, Trina Kauliakamoa, Evelyn Bluthenthal and freshman setter Tanya Alvino.

Chaminade will have its hands full with defending conference champs BYUH in the season closer. Last week, the Silverswords had to rally to beat BYUH in five games. It was the Seasiders' first loss in four games.

BYUH IS TOPS IN SOCCER

The Seasiders women's soccer team did what it needed to do last week by knocking off Grand Canyon and NDNU, but it took some Neighbor Island help for the team to claim the PacWest crown.

Dixie State had a chance to overtake BYUH by beating UH-Hilo the following day, but the Vulcans preserved the title for their O'ahu rivals with a 1-0 win.

The Seasiders' championship comes in just their second season of existence. They finished second in the PacWest last year.

The PacWest does not have an automatic bid for the NCAA Division II women's soccer regional playoffs and the Seasiders, despite their record, are considered a longshot to get a postseason bid.

PLAY IT AGAIN

The PacWest men's soccer season also ended last week, but at least four teams were not willing to go gently into that good offseason.

The final two games of the regular season both went into double-overtime, with Notre Dame de Namur eking a 2-1 win over BYUH, and Grand Canyon and HPU setting for a 1-1 tie.

Grand Canyon finished the season 8-0-2 in the PacWest, 11-4-5 overall, followed by NDNU (6-4, 10-9-1).

UH-Hilo (5-4-1, 8-10-1) was the only Hawai'i team to finish with a winning conference record.

ONE MORE FOR SOCCER

Dixie State College of Utah will add men's soccer to its roster of sports next year.

The program will be the first NCAA men's soccer program in the state.

Dixie State, an NCAA Division II provisional member, is in its first year in the PacWest, fielding teams in nine sports.

A search for a head coach is expected to begin in January.

RUNNING LIKE THE WIND

BYUH's Golden Harper ran a 31 minute, 4 second 10K — tops among Hawai'i runners — to capture 13th place overall in the NCAA Division II Cross Country West Regional Championships in Boise, Idaho, last week. Strong finishes by Golden, Rivers Puzey (45th), Joseph Sybrowsky (47th), Nathan Sandholtz (86th) and Joseph Gonzales (91st) powered the Seasiders to a ninth-place team finish.

Brandon Laan led 12th-place HPU with a 32:24 finish, good for 39th overall.

BYUH also was the top Hawai'i performer in the women's race, with Amanda Whitford (21:54/6K) leading the Seasiders to a 17th-place team finish. The Seasider contingent included Diana Voorhees (59th), Hilarie Glenn (81st), Allyson Robison (114th), Michelle Fong (125th), and Veronica Mendoza (142nd).

HPU's Elin Soto-Thompson placed 83rd with a 23:08 finish as the Sea Warriors placed 20th out of 23 teams.

NCAA DIVISION II CROSS COUNTRY

WEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

MEN

1. Chico State. 2. Western Washington. 3. UC San Diego. 4. Western Oregon. 5. Alaska Anchorage. 6. Cal St. Stanislaus. 7. Humboldt State. 8. Central Washington. 9. BYUH. 10. San Francisco St. 11. Northwest Nazarene. 12. Hawai'i Pacific. 13. Cal Poly Pomona. 14. Seattle. 15. UH-Hilo. 16. Alaska Fairbanks. 17. Montana State-Billings. 18. Chaminade. 19. Grand Canyon.

WOMEN

1. Seattle Pacific. 2. Cal St. Los Angeles. 3. Chico State. 4. UC San Diego. 5. Northwest Nazarene. 6. Seattle. 7. Cal Poly Pomona; Western Oregon. 9. Central Washington. 10. Western Washington. 11. Alaska Anchorage. 12. Cal St. Stanislaus. 13. St. Martins. 14. San Francisco St. 15. Cal St. San Bernardino. 16. Montana State-Billings. 17. BYUH. 18. Humboldt State; Alaska Fairbanks. 20. HPU. 21. UH-Hilo. 22. Sonoma State. 23. Chaminade.

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.