Tribune-Herald With a bunch of new starters, it was essentially a dream come true for the University of Hawaii at Hilo volleyball team to start the season with a 5-0 record. ADVERTISING Then the reality of that inexperience turned into
Tribune-Herald
With a bunch of new starters, it was essentially a dream come true for the University of Hawaii at Hilo volleyball team to start the season with a 5-0 record.
Then the reality of that inexperience turned into a nightmare with a Pacific West Conference two-match road trip to Oahu.
For a second straight conference showdown, the Vulcans struggled and fell to BYU-Hawaii 25-20, 25-18, 25-18 on Saturday night at Cannon Activities Center, putting their postseason chances in jeopardy.
Only twice in the last seven years has a team won the conference title with two or more losses: BYUH and UHH (13-3) in 2010 and BYUH (12-2) in 2008. Basically, if a team has two early PacWest losses, it either has to run the table or think about next year.
Before the road trip, UHH freshman Kyndra Trevino-Scott led Division II with a .491 hitting percentage, but for the second straight conference match she struggled.
She had just four kills on 18 attempts for a .111 hitting percentage for the Vulcans (5-2 overall, 0-2 PacWest). On Friday night in a five-set loss to Hawaii Pacific, she hit .238 with nine kills on 21 swings.
Callie Aberle had 11 kills to lead the way for the Vuls, who hit .078 as a team, compared to BYUH’s .222 hitting percentage.
Shih Teng Chen had 14 kills and hit .290 to lead the Seasiders (7-0, 2-0), who were not only better than UHH in hitting, but also blocking (4.0-3.0), digs (67-59) and aces (3-1).
