Given a second chance at opening night, UH-Hilo’s volleyball team didn’t disappoint.
The Vulcans swept Dominican 25-18, 25-17, 25-17 in PacWest match at UHH Gym.
With the Vulcans’ official home openers marred by Hurricane Lane two weeks ago, tonight’s match served as the “real” opener for head coach Gene Krieger’s squad.
Through two sets, UHH (5-2, 1-0) dominated the Penguins (2-4, 0-1), outhitting them .403 to .118, finishing at .389.
“That’s a great percentage, and even more surprising because we had quite a few attack errors,” Krieger said. “But we had solid play from everyone.:
Indeed.
Winners of three in a row, UHH had a balanced attack.
Alexandria Parisian led the way early with eight kills and hit .545 while Evelin Solyomvari also had eight kills and hit .294.
Parisian finished with 12 kills and Solyomvari had 9 kills.
Bria Beale added nine kills and hit .444 for the Vulcans.
Kiley Davis also shined. She had five kills, no errors and hit .556 and had five of UHH’s 10 blocks.
Jessee Ashton was equally efficient. She had four kills, one error and hit .429 and had four blocks.
Mina Grant led UHH’s ground defense with 13 digs while Beale added eight digs.
Catherine Johnson led Dominican with seven kills while Kate Even added six kills for the Penguins, who were outblocked 10-1 and finished with a .107 hitting percentage.
“It’s good to be 1-0 in conference,” Krieger added. “We look to get better and keep things rolling on Monday night.”
The Vuls host Notre Dame dde Namur at 7 p.m. Monday.
Vuls draw in opener
The UH-Hilo women’s soccer team was less than a minute away from a season-opening win against Eckerd (Fla.) but settled for a 1-1 tie on Friday on Oahu.
Carlie Reader scored off Tiera Arakawa’s corner kick to give the Vulcans a 1-0 lead at 80:33.
But more than nine minutes later, on a one-on-one play, a Vulcan and Triton collided as UHH goalie Bailey Cahill picked up the ball.
A foul was called on UHH, setting up an indirect free kick. Lauren Yudin knocked in a rebound at 89:10 to tie the score.
In the first overtime, the Vuls had two scoring opportunities, including a blocked shot with three minutes left.
In the second OT, neither team recorded a shot.
There were 32 fouls, 20 called on Eckerd (2-0-1).
UHH (0-0-1) plays No. 2 UC San Diego on Sunday.
