HPU clinches title
Why leave anything to chance?
If Hawaii Pacific was to lose Friday's final conference match at Hawaii-Hilo, the Sea Warriors would finish tied for the Pacific West women's volleyball title with Chaminade at 8-2. The championship tiebreaker -- and the automatic berth in the regional -- would come down to the head-to-head meetings between No. 14 HPU and No. 25 Chaminade.
With the teams splitting the two PacWest matches, the deciding factor was yesterday afternoon's nonconference meeting at McCabe Gym.
Thanks to 14 kills by Nadica Karleusa, a season-high 15 blocks by Barbara Martin and 11 team service aces, the Sea Warriors can breathe a little easier. HPU got off to quick starts in all three games to sweep Chaminade 30-23, 30-25, 30-25 and clinch its fifth PacWest title in six years.
The Sea Warriors, ranked fifth in the Pacific region, won their seventh straight to improve to 18-2 overall. The Silverswords, sixth regionally, fell to 15-6 after losing their third in four matches.
"This game meant so much for the title, for our pride, too," said HPU junior Flavia Brakling, who added 10 kills and four aces. "We lost the last time (to Chaminade 3-0). It was ugly.
"Today, we came to play and I think we looked pretty good. This week, what we practiced and practiced was serving."
Silverswords coach Glennie Adams had worried about HPU going on scoring streaks. It happened in all three games.
Brakling had a key service run in every game, beginning with a 5-0 spurt that helped the Sea Warriors take a 6-0 lead in Game 1. As would happen the rest of the match, HPU jumped out to huge margins only to have Chaminade stay close.
In Game 1, it was 20-11 before the Silverswords rallied to 24-21. The Sea Warriors shut the door with three of their 19 blocks and one of Vera Oliveira's five aces to pull away.
In Game 2, Brakling's serve put the Sea Warriors up 5-1, a margin they expanded to 15-4. The Silverswords countered with tough serving of their own -- including two consecutive aces by Marijana Stanic -- in going ahead at 19-18.
Karleusa's kill tied it, sparking a 5-0 run that gave HPU the lead for good.
Chaminade's largest lead of the day was 2-0 in Game 3. Oliveira served up two more aces and Karleusa was in on three of her nine blocks as the Sea Warriors rode a 5-0 streak as a springboard to a 20-9 lead.
Impressively, the Silverswords didn't fold. Chaminade closed to 24-22 on consecutive blocks by Amy Richelderfer. What would have been Richelderfer's third straight block rolled along the net and just out of bounds for an HPU point and 25-22 lead.
The Sea Warriors finished it off with three blocks and kills by Brakling and Karleusa.
"We never got in the game and never gave ourselves an opportunity to win," Adams said. "HPU came out on fire. You need to have some kind of composure to dig yourself out and we were unable to do it.
"It all comes down to passing, and we needed to pass better if we were going to be able to run a diverse middle attack."
Chaminade's passing often left setter Nikolina Rastovic with few options. The taller HPU block was camped out for the predictable setting option -- high and outside.
"We have a big block," said HPU coach Tita Ahuna. "If we can line up straight, press over the net, we can stop anybody.
"What we worked on this week was serving tough and taking them out of their offense. What I'm most proud of is we outdug them (38-34), because Chaminade is a great defensive team."
Senior Kalae Araujo, who will finish as the PacWest leader in career digs per game, had a match-high 11 for the Silverswords. Valasi Sepulona led Chaminade with nine kills.
The Silverswords finish the regular season Thursday at BYUH (2-8, 10-11). Chaminade needs a win to ensure its top-eight regional ranking.
"The BYUH match was always important to us," Adams said, "but now it's very, very, very, very important."
"Chaminade deserves to go (to the regional)," Ahuna said. "We'd love to have them in there with us."
