UH-Hilo welcomed back a familiar face in former coach Gene Krieger, now a Concordia associate coach, and promptly beat his new team 25-17, 25-21, 25-14.
Despite knowing the personnel and tendencies inside and out, the Vulcans won their sixth straight over the Eagles on Thursday night at UHH gym, where Bria Beale, Krieger’s best recruit, had a field day with 14 kills, 37 swings and a .324 hitting clip and 17 digs.
Amber Tai, the other outside hitter, was even better. She knocked down 13 kills on 30 attempts and hit .400. She added seven digs. Libero Kaila Lizama had a match-high 21 digs. Alexandria Parisian added 10 kills while Emily Wade and Armani Moultrie had five kills each for UHH, which hit .301.
The Vulcans (11-5 overall, 6-2 PacWest) had more kills than the Eagles (9-6, 3-4), 48-34 and digs, 69-56, beating them on both ends of the floor.
“I thought our serving and passing were the difference. Part of our game plan was to have clean execution,” UHH coach Chris Leonard said. “Our outsides carried the load. One of the nice things about this team is the balance we have.”
UHH had three aces and six service errors. Concordia had zero aces and six service errors.
Hannah Tostado had eight kills while Mackenzie Jensen and Riley Gill had seven kills each for Concordia, which finished with a .171 hitting percentage.
In the first set, the Eagles were obviously geared up to camp on Beale, but they had to wait awhile. Tai started in the first rotation. It took Beale time to warm up, but she was magnificent late with four of UHH’s final six points. Tai slammed a ball down for set point.
Concordia hurt itself with eight unforced errors, including three service miscues. There is nothing an opponent enjoys more than getting free points without having to do anything.
Beale and Tai were stat twins. Each hit .308 and Beale had four kills while Tai had five. That contributed to UHH high sideout rate of 82 percent, making it tough for the Eagles to get off the ground. Concordia had a meager 56 percent sideout rate.
In Game 2, Beale and Tai carried the offense again. Beale had five kills while Tai had six kills. UHH’s sideout rate dropped to 63 percent but took a late 23-20 lead.
The Eagles still couldn’t figure out how to stop UHH’s two outside hitters and worse yet they made pivotal errors. The visitors from Irvine, Calif., had hitting errors for UHH’s last two points.
In Game 3, the Vuls jumped to a 21-11 lead and wanted to get to bed and get ready for their next opponent, Biola on Saturday. UHH had a 92 percent sideout rate and blazed through the last game.
The matchup wasn’t easy for Krieger, who recruited the players and has kept track of them.
“It was hard,” he said. “First of all, I know all the players and have been following them all along. They didn’t do anything that we didn’t expect. The just served better and hit better. I thought there was still some growth they could take.
“Their setter (Kendall Kott) did a nice job mixing it up. We couldn’t camp on one player. She would go to someone else.”
One of Concordia’s losses was to defending champion Azusa Pacific in five sets. But for comparison’s sake, one of UHH’s losses was to national runner-up Western Washington.
“If we have clean execution on our side of the net, I think we can be competitive with anybody in the country,” Leonard said.
The Eagles didn’t play their best game, but they got a good quick look at the production of UHH’s firepower offense. It impressed one old familiar face.
“I expected them to play well, and they didn’t disappoint,” Krieger said.
The Vuls next host Biola (7-8, 4-3) at 7 p.m. on Saturday. The Eagles finished second last season and were predicted to place third this year.
