If you had asked him a few weeks ago, Tino Reyes wouldn’t have thought Callie Aberle was capable of such a performance.
Not the efficiency and not the workload.
But Aberle recently made Reyes a believer.
A charged-up, home-opening crowd got a glimpse Thursday night as Aberle smacked 21 kills to fuel the University at Hilo to a 25-19, 25-22, 18-25, 27-25 victory against Hawaii Pacific.
“If you had seen her the last two or three days of practice,” Reyes said of the senior outside hitter’s transformation. “I didn’t think she had it in her in training camp. She was worse than last year.
“It was like, where did this girl come from?”
Aberle posted only six kills in the the Vulcans’ first three matches, but she had that number covered in the first set as UH-Hilo (2-2) won its Pacific West Conference opener in front of a crowd of 58o that Reyes called “unbelievable.”
“We really appreciate that,” Reyes said.
Aberle took 65 swings, nearly three times as many as Marley-Strand-Nicolaisen and Morgan Lees, and hit .262 with a team-high 11 digs. Aberle’s high game in kills in 2013, her first as a Vul, was 14.
Reyes credited his team’s improved ball-handling.
“We served a little better and passed a little better, so we could consistently run our offense,” Reyes said. “Callie played with Stacey Witt and Stacey did the bulk of the setting and set her, so that was good.”
At 7 p.m. Saturday, the Vulcans host Chaminade (7-4, 0-1), which beat the Vulcans in four sets in a nonconference match in Honolulu on Sept. 6.
“If we can win the serve and pass game again, we have a chance to like our results,” Reyes said.
According to the numbers Reyes and his staff keep, four players —Aberle, Lees, Tasha Meyer and Kahea Vento-Rowe — earned winning passing grades against the Sharks (0-1, 2-5).
Witt (19 assists) started at setter in place of Sienna Davis (10 assists), and Strand-Nicolaisen, the usual No. 1 option at outside hitter, also came off the bench and finished with five kills. Shelby Harguess contributed five kills and eight blocks.
“Marley wasn’t so good in practice, but she came in and gave us some good things,” Reyes said.
Especially late.
The Vulcans denied Hawaii Pacific two set points in Game 4, the first coming on a kill by Strand-Nicolaisen. UH-Hilo secured the match courtesy of four Sharks errors, the final one coming when Kyndra-Trevino-Scott and Strand-Nicolaisen stuffed Pomai Recca.
“I thought it was going into the fifth set,” Reyes said. “The girls made some crucial plays and pulled it out.”
Kayla Thompson led Hawaii Pacific with 16 kills, but she made 10 errors.