With a four-set victory over Hawai'i Hilo on Wednesday night, PLNU Women's Volleyball (11-3 overall) improved to 6-0 in PacWest play, its best start to a conference season since 2014.
But the visiting Vulcans made the Sea Lions work for it, holding a late lead in the opening stanza and winning the third set. However, Point Loma was able to fend off Hilo and continue its unbeaten start to the conference season, winning by set scores of 25-23, 25-18, 23-25, 25-20.
"Tonight was an interesting night where there was a ton of momentum on either side," PLNU Head Coach
Jonathan Scott said. "It was usually on our side and we played a really good brand of volleyball for most of it, but we also had these major dips that happened to be at the end of sets. I'm happy we were able to close it out though."
The momentum was with the visitors early on, who led 6-3 and then 10-6. A pair of
Bailey Williams kills bookended a 4-0 PLNU run that tied the set at 10 apiece, with the teams then trading leads for the rest of the set.
Hilo regained its advantage, 20-18, only for a
Lauren Phillips ace to cap off a 3-0 streak that put Point Loma back on top. The visitors pulled back ahead, 23-22, but their lead didn't last long as a
Torina Hommes kill and solo block helped PLNU score the final three points to take the first set.
The second stanza was more straightforward for PLNU, with consecutive
Macy Reynolds service aces and back-to-back kills from
Abigail Nua allowing the Sea Lions to jump in front 5-1. Three-straight service aces from Nua then gave Point Loma a 10-4 advantage. PLNU led by as many as nine before a combined block from
Claire Smith and
Grace Hicks put the hosts up two-sets-to-none.
The third set appeared to be more of the same, with a pair of
Anna Massari kills and her combined block with Hommes helping the Sea Lions go on a 6-0 streak to go ahead 14-7. Point Loma extended its lead to eight at 19-11, before Hilo pulled off an improbable comeback.
Massari and Hommes combined for another block to make it 23-18 in favor of the Sea Lions, but the Vulcans scored the next seven points to stun the home side and extend the match to a fourth set.
But that was as far as the match would go, with Point Loma starting quickly in the fourth set and not looking back.
"In the fourth set we started winning the serve and pass game, and defensively we picked everything up and they couldn't find a solution," Williams said. "That was the best thing for us, to start early with a lead and then keep the momentum going from there."
Once again, PLNU took leads of 5-1 and 10-4, leading by as many as seven at 22-15. UHH then flirted with another impressive comeback, scoring the next four points to get to within three. But the Sea Lions thwarted the danger, as Nua punctuated the win with her 20th kill of the night to clinch the victory.
"Our offense was really firing tonight," Williams said. "For our middles, it was pretty much get the ball up, run them, run Abi. Just anything we can do to get our offense to continue to do their thing."
Scott highlighted his team's ability to fight through adversity.
"The story of our season so far has been whether we face big or small adversity, we respond right," Scott said. "We've got this tagline of unity this season that as a team we're actually backing it up."
Point Loma (10-3 overall) now turns its sights on Friday's crucial PacWest matchup with the defending conference champions Chaminade. PLNU and CUH are the lone remaining teams to have yet to lose in the PacWest this season, both sitting at 6-0 in the conference.
"I hope the excitement is high," Scott said. "We took them to five here last season and didn't finish it. They won the conference last year. They are the team that we have to beat for us to prove ourselves, so Friday's an opportunity."
