Azusa Pacific came in with a much better record, but the University of Hawaii at Hilo volleyball team looked like a powerhouse Saturday.
The Vulcans swept the Cougars 25-22, 25-19, 25-21 in a Pacific West Conference match at UH-Hilo Gym.
Senior outside hitter Callie Aberle (13 kills, .262 hitting clip on 42 swings) and sophomore hitter Marley Strand-Nicolaisen (11 kills, .250 on 28 attacks) were a one-two punch for UH-Hilo (5-10, 4-8 PacWest), which hit .226 and snapped a five-match losing skid.
APU (11-9, 7-4) had a .072 hitting percentage and made more hitting errors than UH-Hilo, 28-12. The Cougars were outblocked, 11-0; Kydra Trevino-Scott led the way with eight roofs.
UH-Hilo coach Tino Reyes is heavy on instruction, always offering technical advice when one of his players commits a fundamentally unsound play.
“I don’t know if we played great. We played within ourselves and minimized mistakes,” he said. “Hopefully, it was a good lesson for us. Most of the time the team that commits the less unforced errors wins.”
On Thursday, Reyes remarked that his team hasn’t “developed the killer instinct yet” after a five-set loss to Cal Baptist, the fourth consecutive defeat, with three going the distance.
“I don’t know if you can have that killer instinct after one or two matches. It has to develop over time,” Reyes said. “Maybe somebody on our team has it, and we can find it in the next couple of matches.”