Box Score HONOLULU, Hawaii – While Hawaii is often considered one of the premier vacation spots in North America, the Nanooks certainly haven't found it very inviting thus far during their brief stop.
Alaska suffered a 3-2 (25-15, 18-25, 11-25, 25-16, 12-15) defeat at the hands of the Chaminade Silverswords in their second match of the day in the Aloha State. The Nanooks record now stands at 0-2 overall.
Despite holding a noticeable edge in every statistical category, the Nanooks picked up 15 more errors than the Silverswords and each one proved damaging in the close defeat.
While the Nanooks were able to get on the board first, the outcome of the first set was far from a sure thing due an inauspicious stretch to begin the contest. With the score tied at two each, the Nanooks handed five straight points to the Silverswords by way of a service error, three attack errors and a bad set. Looking to stop the bleeding and settle his young team down, head coach Phil Shoemaker quickly called a timeout.
The strategy proved effective as the Nanooks returned to the court and began to chip away at Chaminade's lead. Little by little, Chaminade's edge evaporated until the Nanooks found themselves within two and began to string together some points.
A seemingly innocuous
Jaxon Hill (Clam Gulch, Alaska) kill began an 11-0 run for Alaska in which
Allison Oddy (Chilliwack, British Columbia) confounded the Silverswords with her service game. The junior totaled four service aces during the run while fellow junior
Casey Tidwell (Redlands, Calif.) stood strong at the front line and picked up a pair of kill and three block assists during the flurry of scoring for the Nanooks.
With the set well in hand, a pair of kills from
Reilly Stevens (Riverside, Calif.), a kill from
Keri Knight (Arvada, Colo.) and an error by Chaminade proved enough to give the Nanooks their first lead of the season, 1-0.
The second game saw the two squads match each other point for point to start things off before Chaminade earned some breathing room with a 7-4 lead. As they had in the previous game, the Nanooks charged back into the thick of things by way of the service ace.
Becky Martin (Cochrane, Alberta) scored back-to-back service aces to cap a 5-0 run for the blue and gold.
With Alaska still in control of the match Chaminade pushed back and used a big 11-1 run of their own to leapfrog the Nanooks and regain control of the set. Alaska never did recover and found themselves tied 1-1 headed into the third set.
Unable to regain any momentum, the Nanooks fell victim to an 8-0 Chaminade run to begin the third game. It seemed as though the Nanooks could do nothing right in the third set as they found themselves down by as many as 14 points in the set. The Nanooks barely made it into double-digit territory in the set and faced a must-win game four.
The fourth set featured the squads match each other from the onset, with neither team managing to string together more than three points in a row. With the score tied at 12, the Nanooks took off on a 9-1 run to take control of the set. The run featured kills from Knight, Stevens and Hill and another service are from the hand of Martin. Hill also put her defensive prowess on display, coming up with a solo and two block assists during the spurt.
Kills from Tidwell, Martin and
Simone Chavous (Aurora, Colo.) would shut down the Silverswords at the end of the set and pave the way for a winner-take-all fifth set.
Chavous began the deciding set with a pair of kills, but they would turn out to be Alaska's only lead during the deciding frame. A pair of service aces from the 'Swords would give them a two-point edge and the resulting hill was too much to climb for the blue and gold.
The Nanooks tied things up at seven and eight but still found themselves down by one in the waning minutes of the match despite a recent kill from Stevens. Chaminade would then grab the next three points for a 14-10 edge. Stevens chipped in another kill in addition to a service ace but it wasn't enough as Chaminade grabbed the final point with a Stevens service error to take the match.
Tidwell led a trio of Nanooks in double figures with 14 kills. The junior also picked up four block assists, a pair of digs and an assist.
Stevens picked up her first double-double as a member of the squad by posting 12 kills and 12 digs while Knight scored 10 kills, seven digs and a pair of service aces.
Martin dispersed a match-high 40 assists to compliment her eight digs and three service aces. Oddy finished with 13 digs, two assists, one kill and her four aces.
Whitney Viveiros set the tone for Chaminade with a double-double consisting of 12 kills and 15 digs.
The Nanooks return to action tomorrow as they face another pair of Hawaiian squads. Up first will be the Sea Warriors from Hawaii-Pacific. The teams are set to begin their match at 3 p.m.
