Marley Strand-Nicolaisen went out in style, but BYU-Hawaii went out with a win. ADVERTISING Marley Strand-Nicolaisen went out in style, but BYU-Hawaii went out with a win. UH-Hilo’s Strand-Nicolaisen pounded a career-high 31 kills in the final match of her
Marley Strand-Nicolaisen went out in style, but BYU-Hawaii went out with a win.
UH-Hilo’s Strand-Nicolaisen pounded a career-high 31 kills in the final match of her career Saturday night, but the Seasiders said farewell by winning their three points to win a five-set thriller in front of a crowd of loud crowd of 735 at the Vulcans’ gym.
The teams combined for 15 national championships, and the Seasiders and retired Hall of Fame coach Wilfred Navalta were honored before their final match. The program is discontinuing athletics.
Also honored were outgoing Vulcan seniors Strand-Nicolaisen, Kyndra Trevino-Scott, Sienna Davis and Mariya Heidenrich.
“It will be a memorable finish for them, that’s for sure,” Vulcans coach Tino Reyes said. “I wish they could have finished with a win, but it was great match and a honorable way to go out for BYU-Hawaii. These two programs were the standard for NAIA volleyball for many years, and this was a great battle for the final time.”
It was almost a storybook ending for Ka’u High graduate Strand-Nicolaisen. After helping the Vulcans (10-15, 8-12 Pacific West Conference) erase a 2-0 deficit, her ace tied the fifth set and 13-13 and a block by Haylee Roberts (11 kills) gave UH-Hilo match point. But BYU-Hawaii (8-12, 5-14) marched off with the final three points on kills by Lacy Lange, Leilani Adolpho and Brittany Waite.
Sinamoni Tonga also had a huge match the Seasiders with a career-high 31 kills.
Strand-Nicolaisen was busy in her finale, taking 81 swings on .346 hitting with 16 digs. Trevino-Scott compiled seven kills and five blocks, Davis notched 51 assists and 10 digs and the highlight for Heidenrich was consecutive aces to clinch the third set.
UH-Hilo finished in a tie for 10th in the PacWest and have suffered five losing seasons in a row.
Wahine cruise
Nikki Taylor put down a match-high 22 kills on her senior night, and Hawaii finished its regular season with a 21-25, 25-14, 25-18, 25-10 victory against UC Santa Barbara.
Taylor hit .406 with 11 digs and finishes the regular season ranked No. 8 for UH with 116 career service aces and No 12 with 1,354 career kills.
McKenna Granato and Emily Maglio added 11 kills apiece and senior Annie Mitchem pounded 10.
The Rainbow Wahine (22-5, 15-1 Big West) had already clinched their second consecutive Big West championship Thursday by sweeping Cal Poly as coach Dave Shoji became just the second NCAA Division I women’s volleyball to reach 1,200 wins.
Hawaii is set to make its 24th consecutive appearance at the NCAA tournament. The selection show is Sunday.
