Relegated to the role of spoiler, the UH-Hilo volleyball team still had something at stake against Point Loma Nazarene on Thursday night.
Relegated to the role of spoiler, the UH-Hilo volleyball team still had something at stake against Point Loma Nazarene on Thursday night.
For starters, the Sea Lions, from San Diego, are among the second-tier teams in the PacWest, along with Cal Baptist, BYU-Hawaii, and Chaminade.
Among the third-tier teams, the Vuls entered the night with three others with seven losses.
The Sea Lions are the type of foe that UHH needs to beat, especially at home, if there is any hope of reaching the postseason for next year’s squad, which will have a ton of senior starters.
The Vuls couldn’t and fell 25-12, 25-19, 25-19 in the second-to-last home match at UHH Gym, tumbling down the PacWest standings.
The Sea Lions had a great hitting night with a .304 attack percentage. The Vuls couldn’t get anything going and hit .087. Here’s another lopsided stat: PLNU outblocked UHH, 11.5 to 2.
Heather Leavitt smashed 13 kills and hit .242 and Bethany Mandon added 12 kills on a .364 hitting clip for the Sea Lions (17-9, 10-7 PacWest).
Marley Strand-Nicolaisen had six kills but hit negative .027 while Morgan Lees (five kills, .045) and Kyndra Trevino-Scott (five kills, .250) aided the Vulcans (11-9, 9-8). Shelby Harguess, the team’s only senior, had the best effort: four kills on a .444 attack percentage.
“We’re consistently inconsistent,” UHH coach Tino Reyes said. “Their setter played great and kept our block guessing. I thought we’d have a chance if we could stay in-system. They stayed in-system all the time and kept hitting cross court over and over. We couldn’t figure them out.”
Basically, UHH’s passing broke down over and over, and the Sea Lions welcomed all the free balls and easy swings. It’s worth mentioning that PLNU setter Savannah Wedemeyer was the PacWest setter of the year last season.
Looking at a bigger picture, it’s a tough climb up the PacWest standings and a much tougher journey to reach the postseason.
The West Region is composed of the California Collegiate Athletic Association, Great Northwest Athletic Conference and PacWest, the latter regarded as the weakest. (The PacWest loses big-time luster when BYUH shuts down its athletic program after the 2016-17 season.)
That’s seen in the NCAA Division II West Region rankings. Cal Baptist is seventh, Dixie State eighth and Point Loma ninth. The CCAA and GNAC each have three ranked teams, all higher than the PacWest.
If Dixie State claims the PacWest’s automatic qualifier, there’s no guarantee that Cal Baptist or Point Loma earn an at-large bid to the eight-team West Regional. Last year, BYUH and Dixie State qualified.
As far as the Sea Lions are concerned, at least their best two players, Leavitt and Wedemeyer, won’t be around to torment the Vuls next year. The two All-American honorable mention and All-PacWest first team picks, from a year ago, are both seniors.
The 25-12 first set was exactly as lopsided as the score indicated.
PLNU absolutely pulverized UHH in the hitting department, .400 to negative .053, and had far more blocks, 8-0. Most of them were camping roofs, where the Sea Lions applied for a permit a day in advance to set up shop and didn’t need to move.
The Vuls gave the Sea Lions a game in the 25-19 second set, where PLNU didn’t have a whopping edge in attack percentage, .351-.242.
For first two sets, Leavitt looked nothing like an All-American. The 5-foot-10 outside hitter had five kills on 16 swings and a .125 hitting clip. However, she compensated with 13 digs.
The difference was Wedemeyer, who dissected UHH’s block. The Vuls were always moving and the Sea Lions kept finding holes, most often to the deep corners — a favorite spot for Leavitt, who kept cutting the ball around roof attempts.
The Vuls just couldn’t capitalize when Wedemeyer was in the front row. She’s 5-7 with her shoes on and not a big leaper. However, having 6-1 middle blocker Mandon (three blocks) and 6-0 middle Dixie Cooper (two stuffs) certainly helped.
In the 25-19 third set, Wedemeyer showed that she’s got All-American court sense. She set Leavitt three times and all three times the ball was deflected. On the fourth attack, Wedemeyer dumped the ball over UHH’s block, slicing the Vul lead to 11-7.
Then the Sea Lions decided to make it an early night. Leavitt smoked a seam shot against a moving block, PLNU triple-blocked Strand-Nicolaisen, and it was suddenly 24-19.
In the last set, Leavitt had eight kills and one error on 21 swings for a .333 attack percentage. Her last kill was another cross-court shot, and that sent the 275 fans home for the night.
UHH hosts first-place Dixie State in its last home match at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at its gym. The team will honor Harguess after the match.