Sunday, October 28, 2001
Never underestimate the power of pride. BYUH puts HPU’s
title celebration on holdBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comThat was about all the Brigham Young-Hawaii women's volleyball team was playing for last night at Cannon Activities Center -- that and preventing archrival Hawaii Pacific from clinching the Pacific West Conference crown in Laie.
The Seasiders did it in convincing fashion, defeating the defending NCAA Division II national champions, 30-27, 26-30, 30-20, 30-16.
"Our freshmen really came through," said BYUH assistant coach Jay Akoi. "It may have been the best we've played all year at the end."
At the end, the Seasiders were dominating. The final two sets weren't even close, as BYUH rolled to leads of 10-plus points in both Games 3 and 4 in topping 10th-ranked HPU.
The Seasiders improved to 12-6 overall, 8-5 in PacWest, with two conference matches remaining against Western New Mexico and Montana State-Billings, both in Laie. HPU (16-3, 10-3), which takes on Hawaii on Tuesday, also hosts Western New Mexico and Montana State-Billings to close out the regular season.
The Sea Warriors only need one victory to clinch the PacWest title and earn the automatic berth into the West Regional. They could have done it last night, but "we were not going to give up," said BYUH freshman setter Kaala Lo. "We played with a lot of heart."
Lo helped put it away with her serves in Game 4. With the score tied at 6, Lo went back to the endline; when she was through, BYUH had scored seven straight points.
HPU got as close as 22-14 but were outscored 8-2, with Dan Xu punctuating the victory with her 23rd kill.
"We didn't deserve to win," said HPU coach Tita Ahuna. "We made too many mistakes."
And the Seasiders took advantage of the errors. BYUH outblocked HPU 10-8 and won the defensive war with a 54-31 advantage in digs. Leiau Meatoga had 19 for BYUH.
Ashley Moeai added 17 kills for BYUH and Karla Ribeiro 11. For HPU, Roberta Robert had 17 kills and Andrea Wean 11.
In Game 1, HPU trailed by as many as seven, the last at 11-4. But helped by tough serving from Summer Castillo, who served for eight straight points, the Sea Warriors took their first lead at 16-15.
Moeai kept the Seasiders close with two kills and a block assist. The game was tied five times, the last at 24, before BYUH pulled away on a block by Diana Plaisted and Elisha Kamalu ended it on a kill.
The momentum appeared to switch sides when the teams traded sides in Game 2. HPU rolled out to a 10-point lead at 22-12, usually untouchable in rally scoring. But the hosts used two kills by Moeai and serves from Dan Xu to rally to 26-24 and 27-25.
A kill by Robert and another by Teisa Fotu gave HPU game point at 29-25. A service error by the Sea Warriors made it 29-26, but Xu's kill attempt went wide, giving HPU the win and evening the match at a game apiece.
Momentum again swung back to the Laie-side of the court in Game 3. The Seasiders again jumped out to a huge lead (13-4) and wouldn't be denied.
Plaisted put down her eighth kill of the match to give the Seasiders Game 3. Less than 20 minutes later, BYUH was celebrating its second win in three conference matches with HPU.