The Brigham Young-Hawai'i volleyball team's Pacific West Conference title defense begins the hard way this week with matches against the two hottest teams in the conference.

On Friday, the Seasiders face Hawai'i-Hilo (6-4), which has won three matches in a row. The Vulcans got a boost last week with the debut of Mary Claire Bolo, who notched 12 kills on 20 attempts as UHH defeated Holy Names (Calif.), 3-0 on Wednesday.

The Vulcans are led by defensive specialist Desiree Agader, who compiled 112 assists in two matches to earn conference player of the month honors earlier this month.

On Saturday, BYUH faces old rival Chaminade, which has compiled an impressive 7-1 record in non-conference play.

The Silverswords have been getting solid production at the net from Trina Kauliakomoa (317 kills in eight matches), Evelyn Bluthenthal (270 kills) and Vanja Radanovic (210 kills on .322 attack percentage, 72 blocks).

The Vulcans and the Silverswords have nearly as many non-conference wins (13) as the rest of the conference combined (14).

Yet, the PacWest title still resides in La'ie, where Seasiders head coach Wilfred Navalta has been allowing his squad (4-4 overall) to learn from a tough non-conference schedule.

The Seasiders have been anchored by freshman setter/libero Keisha Moeai, who had a school-record 39 digs in a win over Cal State-Stanislaus.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

HPU freshman middle hitter Kelly Balanay earned PacWest volleyball player of the week honors, averaging 3.6 kills per game and adding 15 blocks last week. The Sea Warriors (5-6 overall) beat Holy Names and Cal State Dominguez before falling to Cal Poly Pomona.

DIGGING IT

HPU defensive specialist Charly Sampaga averaged 5.2 digs over 10 games to help the Sea Warriors to a 2-1 record last week. She has 166 digs and 19 service aces so far this season.

KICKING IT

Vailama Walker scored two goals, including the tie-breaker in the 87th minute, as Hawai'i Pacific defeated Northwood (Texas), 4-3, in a non-conference women's soccer match at HPU's Atherton Field.

Ashley Dolan and Jamie Hirai also scored for the Sea Warriors (1-4).

Alysia Kroger scored two goals for the Knights (2-4-1).

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.