The University of Hawai`i at Hilo women’s volleyball team wrapped up the non-conference portion of their 2013 schedule with a straight sets victory over Fort Hays State University Monday night.
Set scores were 25-12, 25-20, 25-14.
The match victory improved UH-Hilo’s record to 5-0 on the year as PacWest Conference action begins next week.
“I like our performance,” said head coach Tino Reyes after the match. “I like the fact that we’re getting better.”
With a young squad that features five freshmen and 10 total newcomers, Reyes knows that there is still a lot of room for improvement. “We can get better if we do the right things and we’re not doing it all the time. Maybe it’s because we’re a young squad”
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The Vulcans opened the match by tallying the first four points against the visiting Tigers. Freshman Kyndra Trevino-Scott, who earlier in the day was named the conference’s Freshman of the Week, picked up two of her match-high 14 kills in that run.
Trevino-Scott finished the match with no errors for the third time this season. She hit .609 in her 23 attacks.
“Pretty amazing,” said Reyes. “I’m kinda impressed about that.”
The story was different in the second set. This time, it was Fort Hays State who opened up a set on a 4-0 scoring streak. Sara Hewson tallied two kills in the run and finished with a team-high 12 on the evening.
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Unlike his coaching counterpart, Reyes didn’t use a timeout to stop the run. Instead, he watched a four-point swing fall in his team’s favor, putting UHH ahead 6-5. Three of those points came from attack errors by the Tigers, who hit .070 for the match.
Fort Hays State (0-5) took the lead back and held it through much of the middle portion of the set. But, a pair of kills by Vulcans freshman Marley Strand-Nicolaisen gave her team the lead for good at 17-16.
Strand-Nicolaisen, a graduate of Ka`u High School, finished with 10 kills and a .219 attack percentage.
UH-Hilo started the third set with a pair of kills from Trevino-Scott and scored the first three points. The Vulcans never lost the lead at any point in the set and, at one point, led by as much as 12 before finishing off the Tigers in front of 264 fans at the UH-Hilo Gymnasium.
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UH-Hilo served in 10 aces during the match and hit .287 against the Tigers. Reyes’ club hit .414 in the final set with only one error to close out the match.
The next challenge for the Vulcans is conference play, beginning next Friday with a road matchup at Hawai`i Pacific University.
“The conference is going to be really tough,” Reyes predicted. “I looked at the scores that Chaminade and HPU beat these guys (FHSU) and it’s kinda similar. I think they are pretty good teams, so it’s gonna be a test when we go out there. Of course, BYU-Hawai`i is a Final Four team.”
Before conference play gets started, however, the Vulcans will host their annual alumni match on Saturday at the UH-Hilo Gymnasium. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m.
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