The BYU-Hawaii Lady Seasiders had a busy week with three games in three days, and emerged victorious with three wins. The string of games included a crucial match against Dixie State University and a dominant win against conference opponent Dixie State University sweeping the Red Storm, (25-13, 25-14, 25-18) in a battle for first place in the PacWest conference. The Lady Seasiders also won against California Baptist University (25-11, 25-23, 25-10) and Point Loma (27-25, 25-16, 26-24). The Lady Seasiders came out quick against Dixie St. building a 13-5 lead. After a kill by Kalistina Takau, BYUH would extend their lead to 20-8. The Lady Seasider defense would continue to stifle any attack by Dixie as they continued to dominate the match 23-9.Though Dixie would make a run late it was not enough as the Lady Seasiders took the first set in controlling fashion 25-13.The second set would have a different start to it as each teams traded points until a block by Elizabeth Solaita would spark a four-point run as the Lady Seasiders took the lead 8-4.Takau would come up with a big solo block as BYU-Hawaii gradually extended their lead 15-7. The teams would trade points until a great defensive save by Ashley Mataele would set up Chen for her second straight kill, as a seven point run would give the Lady Seasiders the commanding 23-10 lead and win the match 25-10.On the BYUH athletics page, head coach Mona Ah Hoy said, “We finally had a quick start. We played steady throughout the match and our blocking really showed up. We worked a lot on our blocking because we knew we were going to go up against some big teams this week.”Senior Stella Chen became the second all-time kill leader at BYUH with 1,618 kills-- 170 kills away from all time BYUH kill leader, Yu Chuang Wang. Friday night the Lady Seasiders played again sweeping the California Baptist University Lancers (25-11, 25-23, 25-10). The Lady Seasiders were once again dominant in the first set against the Lancers, but fell behind in the second set 18-23. The Lady Seasiders were able to rally in dramatic fashion and tie the game 23-23 behind consecutive kills from Chen, and a block each from Noel Pauga Wolman and Takau. A kill from Wolman and an ace from Ariel Hsu gave the Lady Seasiders the victory 25-23.On a stormy Saturday afternoon, the Lady Seasiders completed a trifecta by defeating Point Loma in straight sets, (27-25, 25-16, 26-24). The Lady Seasiders were able to hold off Point Loma with a strong defensive effort with 11 blocks and held Point Loma to .154 hitting percentage. The match had 30 ties and 15 lead changes. After three days of play, Kathleen Collette, junior defensive specialist, said, “We were working hard in practice with our blocking, being more aggressive on defense, and working as a team. I feel we did really well working as a team and working with each others’ weaknesses and strengths.” The Lady Seasiders are fourth in the Division II Women’s Volleyball standings and currently have a 11-game winning streak. They return to play Friday, Oct. 24 against Holy Names at the Cannon Activities Center.
Writer: Homer Wolman~Multimedia Journalist
