HILO, Hawai'i -- The Cougar volleyball team finally reached the end of their Herculean road trip Saturday night on the Big Island, falling in five sets to Hawai'i Hilo (25-23, 22-25, 25-22, 15-25, 15-13).  Katarina Radisic and Annaka Jorgenson each had 17 kills for the Cougars in a losing effort.

How it Happened:  Having played one five-set match already earlier in the day, the teams traded points early on, with neither side gaining an advantage over the first 16 points of the match.  At that point, Azusa Pacific went on a 5-1 run to briefly take a 12-9 advantage.  A trio of kills by Abby Hills would help the Cougars maintain that slight edge to 16-13, but then the Vulcans would respond with a 4-1 run to level the score, and then run off four straight points to take control of the opening set, eventually prevailing 25-23.

The Vulcans would jump out to an early 7-4 lead in the second set before Azusa Pacific would make a comeback of their own.  Hills combined with her frontcourt teammates Jorgenson and Ioanna Georgatzi for consecutive blocks as part of the first of three separate 5-1 runs the Cougars would enjoy in levelling the match.  The third of those runs saw the rarest of plays, a kill by Cougar libero Bailey Henington.  Azusa Pacific ultimately claimed the second set 25-22.

Hilo took command of the third set early, at one point winning eight consecutive points to take a 9-3 lead.  The Vulcans would lead by as many as seven at 16-9 before the Cougars came roaring back into the set, going on a 7-1 run of their own.  Delaney Dunham figured into a pair of blocks on consecutive points that pulled the Cougars back within one at 17-16.  From there, the teams traded sideouts on 13 consecutive points before the Vulcans finally won one on their serve to take the third, 25-22.

The Cougars roared out of the gate in the fourth set, rattling off the first five points, highlighted by three kills from Radisic.  Another lengthy run would give the Cougars an 18-7 lead and from there Azusa Pacific would be able to force a fifth set for the second time on the day, racking up 18 kills in the set and taking it by a count of 25-15.

After a brief 3-1 deficit in the final set, the Cougars ran off three points in a row, highlighted by consecutive blocks by Dunham and Jorgenson.  The teams would not be separated by more than two points throughout the final set.  Tied at 12-12, Hawai'i-Hilo found Bria Beale for her 20th kill of the match to claim the lead, and a ball handling error on the ensuing play gave the Vulcans two match points.  The Cougars staved off the first point, but a 13th block on the evening handed the Vulcans the decisive score and gave each team one five-set win on the day.

Inside the Numbers:  Four different Cougars had at least 16 kills in the match.  Jorgenson and Radisic each had 17 kills while Hills and Kyra Palmbush each chipped in 16.  Jorgenson and Radisic both had double-doubles during the match, helping out defensively with 21 and 24 digs, respectively, while Henington led the team with 33.  Dunham made the biggest impact at the net, accounting for a solo block and five block assists.  The Cougars outhit the Vulcans on the evening, with 69 kills and a .199 hitting percentage while holding Hilo to 55 kills and a .123 percentage.  Azusa Pacific ended up with a 1-5 record on this Hawai'i road trip, having played six matches in six days and 27 out of a possible 30 sets.