Silverswords sharp in East-West Challenge

The Chaminade women’s volleyball team continued its winning ways Saturday against Daemen College (N.Y.) in an East-West Challenge match at McCabe Gym.

Freshman outsider hitter Kira Long led a balanced Silverswords attack as Chaminade improved to 3-0 with a 25-20,

22-25, 25-9, 25-21 victory over the Wildcats. Long led Chaminade with 11 kills while hitting .409.

Meanwhile, Hawaii-Hilo dropped its first match of the season, falling to Florida Tech in a five-set thriller 19-25,

25-12, 28-26, 14-25, 18-16 in another East-West Challenge match in Laie.

Freshman paces UH-Hilo at Big Wave race

Freshman Anna Mikkelsen finished strong to lead the Hawaii-Hilo women’s cross-country team to a third-place finish Saturday in the 5K Big Wave Invitational hosted by the University of Hawaii on the Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course.

Mikkelsen covered the course in 19 minutes, 25.30 seconds to take second place overall behind Alaska-Anchorage’s Beatrice Decker, who finished in 19:18.40.

The Rainbow Wahine’s top finisher was North Dakota State transfer Montana Martinez, who placed 19th overall, checking in at 21:09.30.

Alaska-Anchorage led the women’s team competition with 21 points, followed by BYU-Hawaii (46), UH-Hilo (88), Hawaii (95) and Chaminade (148).

UAA also captured the three-team men’s race with a perfect score of 15 points followed by BYUH (50) and Chaminade (83).

Sharks prevail in soccer opener

The Hawaii Pacific women’s soccer team opened its season with a 2-1 win over Florida Institute of Technology (1-1) at Atherton Field.

The Sharks took three shots within the first six minutes. In the seventh minute, junior Lexi Cameau won the ball in the midfield and fired from just inside the box, scoring the season’s first goal for the Sharks.

Senior Ashlyn Ubongen converted a penalty kick in the 19th minute to make it 2-0. HPU outshot FIT 20-14, with 12 shots on goal.