The Saint Martin’s volleyball team picked up a pair of sweeps this past weekend in Honolulu, Hawaii, at the Hawaii Challenge.
After losing to Chaminade 3-2 on Thursday, the Saints responded Friday night with a sweep of Hawaii Pacific (25-22, 25-14, 25-17). Saint Martin’s lost to Hawaii Hilo 3-1 (17-25, 25-21, 23-25, 12-25) Saturday and then handled Emmanuel (Georgia) (25-21, 26-24, 25-19) to close out the tournament.
Against Hawaii Pacific, the Saints never trailed in the first set despite a late push from the Sharks. Saint Martin’s kept rolling into the set with a 10-2 start, and the Saints led by as many as 13 points in a 25-14 win. Hawaii Pacific didn’t take its first lead of the match until 9-8 in the third set, but a 5-0 run and a 6-0 run by the Saints finished off the Sharks.
Saint Martin’s got off to another impressive start Saturday against Hawaii Hilo, taking a 7-5 lead in the first set before the Vulcans rolled with a 15-4 run en route to a 25-17 first-set victory.
The Saints scored the first four points of set two and six of the first seven. Up 15-8, Saint Martin’s surrendered seven unanswered points by the Vulcans to tie the set at 15-15. Five ties later, the Saints closed out the frame with three straight points capped off by a service ace from Tiffany Lam.
Saint Martin’s led by as many as six points in the third set, but the Saints’ 19-13 advantage couldn’t stand as Hawaii Hilo roared back to win 25-23. The Vulcans scored six of the final seven points.
Set four was all Vulcans, who rolled 25-12 to secure the four-set triumph.
In the final match of the Hawaii trip, Saint Martin’s maintained a slight lead over Emmanuel (Georgia) throughout the first set and pulled away with a 5-1 spurt led by Olivia Bassett to win 25-21.
No one held a lead of more than two points in the second set, which saw a whopping 15 ties and nine lead changes. Saint Martin’s finally broke through late after trailing 24-23, scoring the last three, including two kills by Emily Garten and an ace by Ashli Lum, to win 26-24.
The third set was another back-and-forth battle until Saint Martin’s jumped ahead with a 7-0 run to break a 14-14 tie. That burst was enough to keep the Saints in front for the remainder of the frame.
Garten secured her 1,000th career kill during the tournament. Tiffany Lam was named the Hawaii Challenge’s Most Outstanding Libero as she led all liberos in digs per set.
Next up for Saint Martin’s (4-4) is the GNAC season, starting Saturday, Sept. 12 at Western Oregon University.
