University of Alaska Fairbanks Athletics

HONOLULU, Hawaii - Despite grabbing a one set lead on Saturday afternoon, the Alaska women's volleyball team struggled in the latter part of its match and Chaminade was able to rally for a 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 28-26, 25-14) victory at McCabe Gymnasium.

Kapiolani Rapoza led the Silverswords (1-1) with a match-best 18 kills to go with her .406 hitting percentage (18-5-32) while Kim Spring added 12 terminations in the win. Kaya Chong contributed six kills, 10 digs and four aces and Kawai Oleole had a team-best 23 assists.

Chaminade hit .298 (57-20-124) on the afternoon while limiting the Nanooks (0-3) to a .113 (34-22-106) clip. 

Sophomore outside hitter Sam Harthun (Oregon City, Ore./Art) had 11 kills and three service aces while senior outside hitter Keri Knight (Arvada, Colo./Business Administration) and freshman middle blocker Cassidy Brewer (East Wenatchee, Wash./Business Adminstration) each added five kills. Freshman setter Katelyn Camp (Newton, Iowa/General Studies) put up a stat line with four kills, a match-high 26 assists and nine digs and junior libero Tessa Butterfield (Grass Valley, Calif./Justice) added 14 digs and two aces.

In the first set, a 25-20 win for the Nanooks, they hit  .200 (11-6-25) as a team while holding the Swords to just .034 (9-8-29) to win their first set of the season. Jumping late in the set, Alaska trailed 15-14 but five Chaminade errors in the span of eight total points gave the Nanooks a 6-2 run and a 20-17 lead. The Swords cut the lead to two on the next point but three more errors by the hosts put Alaska ahead 23-18. Harthun ended set one as she produced two kills and Alaska took the fram 25-20.

Chaminade led 11-10 in the second but three Alaska errors helped the Swords score six in a row to lead 17-10. Alaska never drew closer than five and Chaminade squared the match at 1-1 with a 25-17 set win.

The third set, which was a thriller, proved that the race to 25 was not enough. Trailing 11-9, Alaska put together a 6-0 run to lead 15-11  with a pair of Harthun kills, a Butterfield ace and three Swords errors. Chaminade battled back and down 19-17, the home team took back the lead at 20-19. with accurate hitting at the net. Teams traded points and Chaminade had a pair of set points but Alaska staved off those two set points and eventually went up 26-25 on a Knight kill. Rapoza answered with a blast to tie it at 26, Pedro followed with a kill of her own and Crystal Powell ended the wild frame with a kill for the 28-26 victory.

The fourth got a little out of hand as Chaminade used the third-set win as motivation to score 12 of the set's first 15 points. Leading 13-5, the Swords put togther a 6-2 run with a mixture of kills and Alaska blunders. The Nanooks couldn't get any closer than 10 as Chaminade won the match with a 25-14 set victory.