The turnout for UH-Hilo volleyball wasn’t as impressive as a night earlier, but as fans headed to the exits Saturday they were greeted by the Vulcans at the door.
For the victors, aloha meant thank you for coming, and those heading out to continue their weekend on a muggy afternoon would have done well to say the same to Lucee Fitzgerald, Randi Hunter and Kiley Davis.
You could say something clicked, but it’d perhaps be more accurate to say things finally fell into place. Sparked by three of their junior transfers, the Vulcans grabbed the momentum late in the second set and rode it to a 17-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-23 victory against Point Loma at their gym, the first quality Pacific West Conference victory of the Gene Krieger era.
“I think the energy, having that level-headed mindset through the entire team, kept everyone involved and in system,” said Fitzgerald, who slammed 13 kills on .407 hitting.
“I think this gives us a lot of confidence going (on the road),” she said, “having a system set, knowing we can get through our ladders.
“Step by step, we just graduated.”
Ladders?
That’s a Krieger concept. The first-year coach recently drew a ladder on the board, explaining to the Vulcans (2-4 PacWest, 5-7) that they have to learn how to get to the next rung.
In beating the Sea Lions (3-3, 6-8) – who earned a quality victory at Chaminade on Friday – UH-Hilo didn’t just grow, it climbed.
“The the next rung was to win a close (match) and the next rung was to beat a team that was supposed to be better than you,” Krieger said. “We got two rungs at once.”
Because of the strong efforts of opposite hitter Hunter (16 kills), middle Davis (nine, .450 hitting) and outside hitter Fitzgerald, the Vulcans overcame an off-match from leading hitter Siera Green. The senior had two kills against seven attack errors, but fittingly her only Siera Green-like kill came on aloha ball.
“Thankfully, we have a balanced team,” Krieger said. “As the match went on we felt we had matchups on the back side. When normally we set ball to Lucee and Siera, we told them nothing against you two, it’s working on the other side, let’s keep going there until they stop it. They never really completely shut us down.”
Meanwhile, UH-Hilo finally began to solve Julia Malinas. The redshirt freshman tallied a match-high 17 kills, but she was hitting north of .500 at one point, settling at .314 for the match.
On Friday night, 603 fans – a solid showing considering Hilo and Kamehameha were hosting BIIF football games – watched the Vulcans lose to Biola in four sets.
After a short turnaround, 175 were on hand for the matinee, and those who witnessed both matches might have noticed the Vulcans didn’t tweak their strategy.
“We didn’t change a thing,” Krieger said. “Nice when you can have a game plan and actually execute it.”
By early in the second set, 13 Vulcans already had seen playing time, and the substitution pattern began to pay off later in Game 2.
Trailing 22-16, the tables started to turn when Fitzgerald – formerly of Irvine (Calif.) Valley College – put down a kill. Basia Sauni’s ace helped matters, and the Vulcans took the last four points of the set on kills by Fitzgerald and Davis, an ace by Fitzgerald, then a kill by Hunter.
Hunter loomed large in Game 3, smacking eight kills, and UH-Hilo trailed 21-18 in the fourth set before reeling off six consecutive points, five coming on Sha Rae Niu’s serve.
“I think today showed that sometimes you need more than seven players,” said Fitzgerald, who finished with three aces. “It really helped the chemistry and bringing energy on to the court and helping us get through little lulls instead of big lulls.”
Freshman Ashton Jesse added four kills and three blocks for UH-Hilo, and libero Mina Grant posted 31 digs.
The Vulcans have more than a week off before starting a Northern California road trip Oct. 8 at Dominican. The ladder will no doubt be discussed between now and then.
“The next rung is going on a winning streak,” Krieger said.
