It was one of the longest 71 minutes of the season for the fourth-ranked Brigham Young-Hawaii volleyball team on Thursday. The Seasiders felt like it took forever to win their 18th in a row when opening the NCAA Division II volleyball tournament in San Bernardino, Calif.
|
NCAA DII WEST REGIONAL
At San Bernardino, Calif.
Today’s semifinals
No. 2 BYU-Hawaii (25-1) vs. No. 3 UC San Diego (26-5), 3 p.m. No. 4 Sonoma State (26-5) vs. No. 1 Cal State San Bernardino (26-5), 5:30 p.m.
Thursday’s first round
BYUH def. Alaska Anchorage 25-19, 25-19, 25-17 UC San Diego def. Dixie State 25-18, 18-25, 25-18, 25-22 Sonoma State def. Western Washington, 25-19, 25-18, 25-16 Cal State San Bernardino def. Central Washington, 25-22, 25-18, 25-23
Saturday’s championship
5 p.m. Winner advances to elite eight, Dec. 12-14, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
|
BYUH (25-1) overcame a slow start by junior All-American hitter Shih Ting "Stella" Chen and a momentum-stalling 13 service errors to sweep Alaska Anchorage 25-19, 25-19, 25-17 in a West Regional first-round match.
The second-seeded Seasiders advanced to today’s semifinal against third-seeded UC San Diego at 3 p.m.
The Tritons (26-5) turned back Dixie State 25-18, 18-25, 25-18, 25-22 in Thursday’s opener.
The regional stayed true to seeding the rest of the day as well. Host and top-seeded Cal State San Bernardino won its 18th straight, defeating Central Washington 25-22, 25-18, 25-23 to advance to today’s second semifinal. The Coyotes (26-5) will face fourth-seeded and conference rival Sonoma State (26-5); these Seawolves swept Western Washington, 25-19, 25-18, 25-16.
BYUH coach Mona Ah-Hoy was surprised her team struggled to put away the Seawolves (21-10) and more surprised about the service errors. The Seasiders averaged just 4.1 service errors per match coming into Thursday.
"We had a tough time serving and I don’t know why," the first-year coach said. "Fortunately, we settled down and came through with our passing.
"Stella was struggling in the beginning, hitting negative, but she got back into it. Our middle blockers did really well. We’re glad to get that first one out of the way."
Chen finished with a match-high 14 kills and hit .379. Junior setter Ying Chun "Michelle" Chen ran a balanced offense that had junior middle Erh Fang "Ariel" Hsu hitting .692 with nine kills, and freshman hitter Noel Pauga and sophomore hitter Lacy Miyahira each with eight kills.
Katelynn Zanders led Alaska Anchorage with eight kills.
Ah-Hoy said her concern today was the height of UC San Diego, whose front line averages 6 feet and "we’re going to have to run a quicker attack to make up for it," Ah-Hoy said. "We watched them today and they are big. We’ll have to serve them tough."
BYUH did just that when rallying in Set 1. Down 12-9, the Seasiders went on a 7-0 run behind the serving of junior Bry Tatupu-Leopoldo to take the lead for good.
BYUH had to rally again in Set 2. Stella Chen broke a 16-16 tie with a kill, sparking a 9-2 spurt to close it out. The Seasiders controlled Set 3 from the start, taking a 9-3 lead en route to their 18th sweep of the season.
Chen honored: Stella Chen was named the Daktronics West Region Volleyball Player of the Year Thursday as well as to the all-region first team for the third year in a row. Joining her on the first team was junior setter Michelle Chen, who was a second-team selection last year.
Stella Chen ranks second nationally in kills per set (5.12 kps) and points (5.69 ops). Michelle Chen is 11th nationally in assist average (11.64 aps).
