Tribune-Herald
The road remained a bugaboo for the University of Hawaii at Hilo women’s volleyball team.
Malika O’Brien smacked 13 kills Saturday and California Baptist swept UHH 25-23, 25-18, 25-21 in Riverside, Calif., keeping the Vulcans winless away from home.
UHH (10-14, 5-14 Pacific West Conference) was competitive in the Game 1 in forging a 23-23 tie. But a service error and an attack error gave the Lancers (17-9, 14-4) the set, and coach Tino Reyes said his team couldn’t overcome it’s razor-thin margin for error on the road the rest of the way.
“We’re not a good enough team to win when we’re playing like that,” Reyes said after UHH fell to 0-9 on the road.
He questioned whether or not the match statistics provided by Cal Baptist were correct. Marley Strand-Nicolaisen was credited with 15 kills, while Kyndra Trevino-Scott and Callie Aberle were each given eight kills. Reyes, however, is not so sure that Trevino-Scott didn’t lead the way. The freshman middle blocker hit .300.
“We’ll have to look at the tape,” he said. “I know we didn’t get Kyndra enough sets.
“As for California Baptist, the numbers don’t lie.”
O’Brien hit .440, and Lauren Marr added 10 kills as the Lancers hit .264.
UHH, which hit .178, closes its season Nov. 16 against Chaminade in Honolulu.
Men’s basketball
Adam Hastings scored 17 points and Marwan Sarhan 15 to lead Western Oregon to a 76-72 comeback win over UHH on Saturday night in the PacWest/GNAC Challenge.
The Vulcans finished the four-team event with a 1-1 record. They beat St. Martin’s 75-65 in Friday’s first round at McCabe Gym in Honolulu.
Senior Brandon Thomas led UHH with 17 points and 14 rebounds in the loss to Western Oregon (1-1). Senior point guard Derek Owens had 15 points, junior Jamario Clayton 14 and junior Darnell Williams 12.
The game was tied 40-40 at the intermission before Western Oregon outscored UHH 36-32 in the second half.
“We got stagnant offensively and couldn’t close it out,” first-year coach GE Coleman said. “They were able to execute some sets down the stretch.”
Western Oregon shot 50 percent (31 of 61) from the field, 43.8 percent (7 of 16) on treys and 43.8 percent (7-16) from the free-throw line. The Vulcans hit 37.3 percent (25 of 67) from the floor, 23 percent (5 of 22) on treys and 81 percent (17 of 21) from the line.
Western Oregon outrebounded UHH 45-40 but turned the ball over 16 times compared to the Vuls’ 9. UHH also had 7 steals while their opponent had 5.
The Vulcans next host Western State College from Colorado on Nov. 20 at UHH.
WOU 40 36 — 76
UHH 40 32 — 72
