CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- In an up and down five-set saga, BYU-Hawaii took down West Texas A&M 3-2 (25-20, 25-22, 19-25, 21-25, 15-11) on Friday to advance to the championship match of the NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship.
The Seasiders (29-1) won the first two sets handily and then struggled in sets three and four. It all came down to a fifth set for a chance to play for the national title.Down 3-2 in the final set, West Texas A&M (35-4) ran out to a 6-2 lead. The four-point lead stuck at 8-4 but was erased when the Seasiders tied things up 8-8. The Lady Buffs went back up by two before BYU-Hawaii came back again to take a 12-11 lead.
Another kill from Shih Ting (Stella) Chen made it 13-11 to give the Seasiders some cushion to work with. A bad set from the Lady Buffs and one final kill from Stella Chen pushed BYU-Hawaii into the national championship match with a 15-11 set win and 3-2 victory for the match.
The Seasiders hit .295 for the match and Stella Chen posted 21 kills and 18 digs. It was more than just Stella as BYU-Hawaii spread the kills around to Erh Fang (Ariel) Hsu who added 17 kills and one solo block while Lacy Miyahira added 13 kills and two aces. Erica Willes and Noel Pauga both added eight kills apiece. Ying Chun (Michelle) Chen posted 58 assists and two aces.
The Seasider winning streak extends to 22 in a row.
