Swords open season with 4 wins

Chaminade women’s volleyball played a double header on Sept. 5 against Sonoma State and Humbolt State and won both matches. Sonoma State, ranked 12th in the country in Division II, lost to the Silverswords three games to one. Humbolt State was defeated by the Silverswords three games to one.

The first match of the day against Sonoma State showcased a first game comeback after being down 24-18, Chaminade pulled out eight straight points to win the set 26-24.

After Chaminade lost the second set 25-16, the Silverswords looked like the same team fans had become accustomed to over the last few years.

The third and fourth sets featured University of Hawaii transfer Keani Passi, who finished with a team high 15 kills against the Jacks.

Passi declined to comment on her performance.

“Every match we’ve improved on our ball control taking car of our serve receive passing once we have the passes I knew we are able to use our offensive weapons,” coach Kahala Kabalis Hoke said. “We have a team full of leaders and that’s what is gonna make us successful this year, yes Keani (Passi) has been leading us in kills for these past four games. But as you can see, we still had a lot of help from our freshman middle, our outsides, Cassie Rushlow our returning kill leader. So we have a lot of offensive weapons like I said and once we get those passing, we’ll be unstoppable because our opponents won’t know who the ball gonna go to.”

Junior outside hitter Kim Spring returned to the court after a year off in Switzerland playing for her club team. Spring recorded seven kills in the daytime match.

In the nightcap game the Silverswords looked for their fourth straight victory, but had a tougher time against Humbolt State winning three sets to one (22-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-22). The Jacks held the lead for the entire first set while the Swords comeback attempt fell short. The next three sets went back and forth with both teams tying up at 23-23. Freshman Skylar Curry drew an error by Humbolt State’s Alex Hasenstab followed by a Kim Spring kill to tie the match at one set each.

The next two sets were similar to the second set with neither team giving an edge over the other. Passi showed here division I experience off with her jump serves and her ability to find the open court while Spring and Rushlow continued to be dominant forces up front.

The Silverswords won the last to sets by a combined four points to improve to 4-0 on the season.

The next match for the Silverswords will be on Monday September 7 at 10 a.m. against St. Martin’s. This is a rematch of a game on Sept. 4 that the Silverswords won 3-1 (21-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-11).