Dixie State University volleyball rebounded in a big way Saturday afternoon as it beat Hawaii Pacific University 3-1 after a heartbreaking collapse against Chaminade on Wednesday.
Coming into the week on a four-match winning streak, DSU hoped to stay in the win column against the Silverswords and looked poised to do just that early on. The Storm won the first two sets and led 12-5 in the third.
Chaminade, however, would not be turned away. The Silverswords scored on 10 straight volleys en route to the third set comeback. Chaminade senior hitter Keani Passi proved to be too much for the Storm to handle as she notched a match-high 23 kills and six blocks.
The Silverswords dominated in the fourth set before winning the deciding fifth 15-13 and leaving the Storm crowd stunned with a 3-2 final.
DSU welcomed HPU, another Pacific West Conference foe, to St. George on Saturday. It was the sixth consecutive conference home game for the Storm, and they were looking for their fifth win of the home-stand.
It was a tightly contested match throughout as the teams split the first two games. Dixie State won the first 25-22 and HPU took the second 18-25.
“We battle like this every time we play them,” head coach Robyn Felder said. “We were able to really finish, which is something I emphasized after the loss on Wednesday.”
DSU took Felder’s emphasis to heart on Saturday, as they won the final two games by two points a piece, 28-26 and 25-23.
“We really fought hard and earned this one,” Felder said. “We got ahead against Chaminade and kind of took our foot off the pedal and knew we couldn’t do that again. The girls responded really well and got a big win against a quality program.”
The Storm will finish its long homestead Saturday, Oct. 17 at noon.
