A Silversword who had an errorless night on the road, a Hawk who frequently sends “return to sender” notes to her opponents and a team of Sea Lions who just keep winning are the PacWest Players and Team of the Week.

Chaminade’s Sasha Colombo (18 kills, no errors) is the Player of the Week, Saupuni Mavaega (Holy Names) is a blocking machine and is the Defender of the Week. Point Loma tops Biola and Hawai`i Pacific to win its sixth straight and is the Team of the Week.

2022 Results/Schedule
2022 Standings
2022 Statistics
2022 AVCA National Poll
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Chaminade’s Sasha Colombo, MB, 6-2, Gr., Milan, Italy
Sasha Colombo and her Chaminade Silverswords had just one match last week but she made it count during a four-set win on the road at Biola. The grad transfer from Colorado State slammed down a career-high 18 kills and did so without an error. She had 28 swings (.643) and also zipped in four service aces for 22 total points. Colombo’s previous collegiate high for kills was 12 for the CSU Rams. The Italian helped her Silversword team win its seventh straight match.

DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Holy Names’ Saupuni Mavaega, MB, 6-2, Sr., San Francisco
Holy Names senior middle Saupuni Mavaega helped lead her Hawks team to a pair of PacWest victories over Dominican and Academy of Art. For the week (includes non-conference match vs. Stanislaus State), the former Concordia-Portland player had five solo blocks and seven block assists. Additionally, she put down nine kills without an error (.643) against Dominican and had eight versus Academy of Art for an attack percentage of .615. On the season, Mavaega leads the conference with 34 solo blocks, and it isn’t close—the next closest player has 15. The San Francisco native led the PacWest in 2021 as well with 40 solo blocks.
 
POINT LOMA PUNISHES EAGLES AND SHARKS: The PacWest Team of the Week is Point Loma, who took out Biola in four sets and swept Hawai`i Pacific to improve to 10-3 overall and 5-0 in conference play. The Sea Lions have also now won six straight matches heading into Wednesday night’s tilt with Hawai`i Hilo. Freshman Abigail Nua continues to impress, putting down 17 balls against the Eagles and 11 more versus the Sharks. Setter Lauren Phillips had a career-high 19 digs in just three sets against HPU (she also had 24 assists and leads the PacWest with 10.26 per set) and Courtney Dyer continues to pile up dig totals with 14 and 18 on the week. Bailey Williams had a double-double against Biola with 10 kills (.429) and 12 digs. It is Point Loma's first 6-0 start in the PacWest since 2014.

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: It is tight at the top, as no more than two games separate the top five teams in the loss column. Chaminade and Point Loma share the top rung (5-0), followed closely by Fresno Pacific (5-1), Concordia (4-2) and Azusa Pacific (3-2)…The Monday to Monday week started out red hot in Hilo where Academy of Art edged the Vulcans in five sets. Amalie Rupertova had 24 kills and 29 digs for the Urban Knights and teammate Maya McClellan added 20 kills and 16 digs. For Hawai`i Hilo, freshman Nikki Logan had a career best 26 kills, the highest total for a Vulcan player since 2016. Samara Cruz had a double-double with 18 kills and 17 digs…Concordia’s Kirra Schulz had a pair of double-doubles with 12K/13D against Biola and 15/15 versus Azusa Pacific. Eagle Cassie Prior had 17 kills and hit .412…In Biola’s 3-1 win over Concordia, Kendall Vandertuig had 20 kills while Eagle teammate Anna Aubele had 14 kills, 12 digs and five aces…Dominican’s Vanna Marquez had 26 digs in just three sets in a 2-0 loss to Holy Names…APU’s Annaka Jorgenson had a productive and efficient week with 16 kills (.311) against Concordia and 14 kills (.364) in three sets versus UH Hilo…In addition to Sasha Colombo’s heroics (see Player of the Week), Chaminade’s Greta Corti had 11 kills 13 digs and three aces at Biola. Chaminade has now won 21 of its last 22 sets.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Hawai`i schools continue their tour of the SoCal schools this week, while the northern California teams square off against each other. Key match-ups include Chaminade at Concordia (Wednesday), Chaminade at Point Loma (Friday), Fresno Pacific at Holy Names (Friday) and Chaminade at Azusa Pacific (Saturday).