SAN DIEGO - It is a very rare occurrence when a volleyball team outscores their opponent in a match and still loses but that is exactly what happened to the Point Loma volleyball team which fell in four sets to Hawaii Hilo 25-22, 25-22, 15-25 and 25-23 on Saturday, Oct. 10.
This was the second straight loss for PLNU (8-8, 3-5 PacWest) at Golden Gymnasium after winning their first seven at home in 2015, and their last 20 dating back to the opener of the 2014 season. This is the first time Point Loma has lost consecutive matches since the 2012 season. Hawaii Hilo snapped a three-match skid with the victory to improve to 3-4 in the PacWest (4-6 overall).
Point Loma actually outscored UHH by two in the match (92-90) but they were undone by their own mistakes. PLNU had 31 attack errors and 12 service errors in the match which included having 10 of their attempts blocked. Meanwhile, Hawaii Hilo had just 27 total hitting errors as they outpointed PLNU by 16 on self-inflicted mistakes.
Heather Leavitt had 26 kills for her second-best mark of the season. She has been in double-figures in all 16 contests. She also posted 16 digs to register her 12th double-double. Leavitt was the only Sea Lion with double-figure kills and the only one to hit over .200 with at least 10 attempts in the match.
Cayleen Harty posted five blocks in the loss, while
Christin Fisher had 23 digs and
Savannah Wedemeyer added 40 assists.
Marley Strand-Nicolaisen paced the Vulcans with 16 kills. Morgan Less also added 14 kills and 13 digs.
Point Loma came back nicely in the third set with a 25-15 victory after dropping the first two sets 25-22. PLNU looked like they would carry that momentum through the fourth set to force a decisive fifth set. The Sea Lions led 22-21 after an ace by Wedemeyer, but the Sea Lions committed three errors in the clutch allowing UHH to make the late comeback and take the set and the match.
The Point Loma volleyball team will continue its homestand on Wednesday, Oct. 14 when it hosts Academy of Art at 7:00 p.m.
Â
