Posted with permission, article and pictures, courtesy of Hawaii Pacific University
HONOLULU – The Hawai’i Pacific University, women’s volleyball team, was edged out 3-2 in a marathon game against Academy of Art on Saturday night at the Shark Tank.
The Sharks (0-10, 0-4) battled against the Urban Knights (2-11, 1-3) in a game with 19 lead changes and 36 tied scores.
The night’s tone was set in the first set with 11 lead ties. Exploding in the first set was junior outside Ella Dotson, who racked up six kills on 11 attempts for a .455 kill percentage, enough to give HPU the edge 28-26.
In the second set, Hawai’i was in command early, with senior Demi Winters continuing her hot streak amassing five kills and hitting .444. However, the Urban Knights chipped away and took an 18-17 lead late in the set. ART ended the set on a 7-1 run to take set 2 25-18.
The third set was all Sharks, as graduate outside Riley Gill and the offense got off to a red hot 9-0 start. This lead would be insurmountable from the get-go as HPU did quick work for a 25-9 set 3.
As the night’s theme of a dogfight resumed in the fourth, the match remained within a point at 19-19 before ART U found the edge they were looking for, pushing past a fourth set 25-21 victory.
The teams settled in for a tight fifth set with the match on the line. The Sharks took the early 2-0 advantage on a Dotson kill. The Urban Knights kept In the fight, never letting go. Even when faced with a 12-9 deficit, ART U found a way to sideout and rattled off three straight points and squared the game up at 12-12. Down the stretch, a couple of errors would eventually lead to a 16-14 loss in the fifth set.
Dotson amassed a season-high 17 kills and ten digs for her first double-double. The Sharks had three players with double-figure kills. Freshman Marley Sandoval added her second double-digit kill game of the season with 11 kills. Winters has climbed into the top slot for kills with her 13 on the night.
Sophomore setter Pua Beazley and graduate Maile Powell spread the ball around tonight. Beazley led the duo with 27 assists, while Powell followed closely with 25.
The Sharks head on a two-week road trip beginning with Point Loma on Monday, Sept. 26 at 3 p.m.
The return of Sharks Weekly radio show airing on Mondays from 8-9 a.m., beginning Sept. 19, with special guests Jenic Tumaneng, Pua Beazley, Ella Dotson, and Riley Gill for the first show of the season.
