Hawai'i Baptist rallies past Sacred Hearts in three sets

Hawaii Baptist's Tiffany Thompson attempts to put a kill past the Sacred Hearts block. James Miura | Special to SL

Tiffany Thompson spiked eight kills and served eight aces last night to help Hawai'i Baptist rally past visiting Sacred Hearts 17-25, 25-12, 26-24.
The Eagles improved to 6-0 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II race, while the Lancers fell to 4-2.
Under the ILH's new format, DII teams do not play DI opponents, but HBA is quickly discovering its season won't necessarily be that much easier.
"The ILH is still tough, there's no lack of competition," Eagles coach Myles Shioji said. "The ILH is always tough ... it's a privilege to play in this league."
Sacred Hearts, which is back in Division II after several years in DI, is also learning how tough the league can be even without Kamehameha, Punahou and 'Iolani on the schedule.
The Lancers took control early in the first set and were serving for match point at 24-23 in the third, only to see it slip away after a serving error, a kill by Tiana Limoz through a block on the right side followed by Thompson's ace.
"Basic skills," Sacred Hearts coach Derwin Tsutsui said. "Serving and passing -- those were two keys tonight."
The Lancers jumped out to a 4-1 lead and never trailed in Game 1, pulling away with a 6-0 run after HBA closed it to 14-13. But the Eagles quickly reversed the momentum in the second set, largely behind Thompson.
Her ace gave Hawai'i Baptist a 4-1 lead, then she spiked two kills to help stretch it to 9-5. Back-to-back hitting errors later made it 13-7, and a serving error pushed it to 16-9.
Thompson then served four aces to spark a 6-0 run that made it 22-9.
"Serving is always a key for us, serving and defense since we're so small," said Thompson, a senior outside hitter. "In the first set, we would make mistakes and tense up, so afterward we talked about keeping our composure. We needed to focus more."
Sacred Hearts raced out to a 6-1 lead in Game 3, before Thompson had an ace and a kill from the back row to spark a 6-0 run and help the Eagles push ahead, 7-6. The teams then traded points until the end, with neither leading by more than two points.
A kill by Thompson put HBA up, 23-21, but the Lancers fought back and tied it on Shawna-Lei Santos' tip kill and then took a 24-23 lead on Cheyenne Chong's dink.
But their next serve went into the net and the Eagles closed out the match with Limoz's kill and Thompson's ace.
"We practice those situations, the last couple points (of a set)," Thompson said. "It's about making plays -- when there's a free ball, we gotta make the play."
CJ Asuncion added six kills for Hawai'i Baptist and Limoz and Kanoelani Yadao each contributed four kills, with Yadao serving two aces.
Santos finished with a match-high 15 kills to lead Sacred Hearts, along with one block and one ace. Maria Leinweber added eight kills, two blocks and an ace.