Hawaii Hilo Clinches 4th Seed in PacWest Volleyball Championships

Hawaii Hilo women’s volleyball secured the final available position in the Pacific West Conference Championships postseason tournament by concluding its schedule with an Oahu road trip, where the team beat Chaminade in four sets (20-25, 26-24, 25-16, 25-18) on Friday evening at McCabe Gymnasium and then topped HPU in three sets (25-12, 25-21, 25-23) on Saturday afternoon at The Shark Tank.

By defeating Chaminade on Friday, Hawaii Hilo eliminated Westmont from the race and secured a place in the four-team bracket, joining Biola (14-4), Concordia (15-3), and Point Loma (16-2). Vanguard University will host the tournament on Friday and Saturday at the Freed Center in Costa Mesa, California.

The Vulcans opened the trip by swinging back against the Silverswords. Following a first-set loss to Chaminade, UHH secured a narrow second set by scoring the last two points, outperformed the opposition with a .361 hitting percentage compared to .088 in the third, and dominated the final set.

Alohi Garcia recorded her 16th double-double of the season with 13 kills and 12 digs, while ‘Anolani Santos had her eighth with 47 assists and 12 digs. Chase Koepke and Sajal Glunz each posted 14 kills.

To finish their campaign, the Vulcans swept HPU, winning the first set with ease and maintaining a .448 hitting percentage during each of the first two sets.

Garcia led Hawaii Hilo with 16 kills while hitting .333. Koepke hit .455 on 13 kills, and Logan Blutreich hit .400 on nine kills.

Hawaii Hilo will enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed. The Vulcans open the PacWest Championships with a semifinal-round matchup against Point Loma at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, translating to 4:30 p.m. PST.