Box Score HONOLULU, Hawaii - Looking to earn their first win in a season opener since 2007, the Nanooks volleyball squad was forced to wait another year to find the elusive opening day victory as the ladies found themselves on the wrong end of a 3-0 (25-14, 25-21, 25-13) tally against Hawaii-Hilo.
The blue and gold were only able to hit a paltry .103 while the Vulcans earned the triumph with a .293 attack percentage.
Despite the final tally, the match began on a positive note for the Nanooks as they took a 1-0 lead thanks to an errant Vulcan attack attempt. The teams would trade points and a kill from
Simone Chavous (Aurora, Colo.) would knot matters at three before the Vulcans went on a 9-1 run to take control of the first set. Attack errors by the Nanooks accounted for six of nine points for the Vulcans during their run.
Alaska crept back to within seven points of Hawaii-Hilo on two occasions but could not close the gap any further as the Vulcans accounted for the final five points of the set to earn a 1-0 edge.
The momentum carried through the first pair of points in the second set for the Vulcans before the Nanooks set out to prove that the first set was nothing more than a fluke. An attack error from Hawaii-Hilo opened the door for a pair of kills from
Keri Knight (Arvada, Colo.) to tie the second set at three. Kills from
Reilly Stevens (Riverside, Calif.) and
Jaxon Hill (Clam Gulch, Alaska) coupled with another pair of Vulcan attack errors gave the Nanooks a 7-4 lead.
The lead, however, was short lived as Hawaii-Hilo charged back to tie the score once again, this time at seven. Morgan Tebbs (Queen Creek, Ariz.) gave the lead back to the blue and gold with a kill on the next point, but that was the last time that the Nanooks would lead in the set.
A 4-0 run by the Vulcans saw them take control of the set. The Nanooks managed to tie things at 11 thanks to a block by
Casey Tidwell (Redlands, Calif.) and
Becky Martin (Cochrane, Alberta) but that was as close as the Nanooks would come.
The Vulcan's lead bulged to as many as six points through the remainder of the set before the Nanooks cut the lead to four with the Vulcans sitting on a set point. Unfortunately, after a Vulcan timeout they would close out the set and leave the Nanooks in a 2-0 hole.
WIth their backs against the wall, the Nanooks opened up a 3-1 lead to begin the final set before a 9-5 run by Hawaii-Hilo would force head coach Phil Shoemaker to call timeout. Tidwell and Stevens contributed a kill each on the next two points to bring the Nanooks within two but the Pacific West Preseason Player of the Year HIllary Hurley would score the next seven points for the Vulcans which left the Nanooks reeling.
Attack errors coupled with Vulcan service aces down the stretch would spell doom for the blue and gold as they dropped the deciding match.
Knight paced the Nanooks offensively with nine kills to go along with a service ace and a pair of digs. Stevens added seven kills an assist and seven digs while TIdwell finished the match with the most well-rounded numbers for the Nanooks as the junior racked up six kills, three assists, two digs, a solo block and a pair of block assists.
In her first collegiate match, Martin dispensed 22 assists for Alaska.
Hurley set the tone for the Vulcans with 25 kills and a .444 hitting percentage.
The Nanooks will not have long before again trying to capture the first win of 2011. Alaska will face off against the host Silverswords from Chaminade at 9 p.m.
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