UH-Hilo coach Tino Reyes figured it was business as usual when Kayla Balezentis left Monday’s match against Dominican with a finger injury, only adding to the Vulcans’ woes.
UH-Hilo had every reason to fold up and get out of town and hop on a plane home, but sometimes sports is weird.
The Vulcans followed up two uninspiring performances against lesser teams in Northern California with what can only be designated as a good win: 25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 25-23 over the Penguins, who began the day in third place in the PacWest.
“They gutted it out,” Reyes said by phone in San Rafael.
The Vulcans (10-14, 8-11) once again were without the services of libero Mina Grant (back), but if the team’s passing was lacking, that didn’t seem to have a negative influence on the team’s hitting.
Marley Strand-Nicolaisen led the Vulcans with 21 kills and 20 digs, Haylee Roberts added 13 kills and middle blocker Kyndra Trevino-Scott put down nine balls as the Vuls snapped a three-match winning streak (all were sweeps).
“Our hitters did a really good job of bailing everyone out,” Reyes said.
UH-Hilo finishes the season against BYU-Hawaii at 7 p.m. Saturday in what will be the final home matches for Strand-Nicolaisen, Trevino-Scott, Mariya Heidenrich and Sienna Davis (43 assists, two service aces on Monday).
Of course, it you want to think cup half full, the effort against the Penguins (16-10, 10-6) could have been good enough to win at Holy Names and Academy of Art earlier on the trip.
“If we had played like that, we win both of those games,” Reyes said.
Aimee Steinwand led five Penguins in kills with 12.
Statistically, UH-Hilo was outhit, outblocked and outdug.
“It only matters if you have more points,” Reyes joked.
Outside hitter Siera Green continues to be hobbled by an ankle injury, but she did post 12 digs, as did Kaila Lizama. The freshman had only one kill but it came at match point.
“This is a good way to go home,” Reyes said.
