HILO, Hawaii-A balanced attack helped the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (4-3 overall, 3-0 PacWest) overcome some early mistakes and a hard charging Hawai'i Hilo Vulcans (1-8 overall, 1-2 PacWest) squad in four sets Wednesday night on the Big Island.

By the end, Fresno Pacific looked smooth and comfortable in front of the island crowd as seven different Sunbirds racked up five or more kills. But it took FPU a few minutes to get to that rhythm.

The Sunbirds dug an early hole by committing five errors to trail 8-2.

FPU sorted out the offense quickly, registering four more kills without an error, eventually pulling even at 11-11.

After falling behind again at 13-11, Catie Speas, Madison Girnius and Cambria Waites delivered consecutive kills to give Fresno Pacific its first lead of the night.

While the lead alternated sides for the middle portion of the set, Corinne Acosta's service run propelled Fresno Pacific to a three-point lead at 21-18.

Chloe Melis paced FPU in the first set with four kills and helped close out the 25-20 win with a pair of blocks as the Sunbirds staked an early 1-0 lead.

"Hawai'i Hilo did a great job serving tough tonight," Fresno Pacific head coach Mike MacNeill said of the opponent. " They get us out of system plenty. We were able to battle back and stay engaged mentally, despite the great crowd in the gym."

The start of the second set saw a familiar pattern develop as FPU spotted Hilo a 7-0 lead, before a service error caused the side out.

Fresno Pacific built some momentum scoring the next three points before Hilo stretched the difference back to 10-4.

The Sunbirds climbed back again with a pair of Melis kills making it 10-7.

The deficit remained similar as Hilo extended a pair of leads that Girnius and Acosta ended with emphatic kills.

9 errors made it difficult for Fresno Pacific to maintain their momentum and a five-point run put Hilo at set point with FPU trailing 24-16. The Sunbirds staved off
three of those attempts with kills before falling 25-19 and evening the match at 1-1.

Acosta helped Fresno Pacific start the third set strong, registering a pair of kills as the Sunbirds scored four of the first five points.

Fresno Pacific was much cleaner at the beginning of the third set, building multiple three-point leads before Hilo closed the gap, eventually trailing 15-14.

Acosta reinserted herself after FPU took a timeout, delivering a pair of kills and a service ace to regain the lead.

"During our timeout," MacNeill said of his outside hitter. "I looked at Corinne and knew she was locked in. Our setters felt comfortable getting her the ball and she executed really well."

She would finish the set with 5 kills and 2 aces as FPU cruised to a 25-18 victory and a 2-1 lead in the match.

Fresno Pacific had its best start to a set in the fourth, tallying five kills without an error while building a 10-5 lead and forcing Hilo to take an early timeout. The lead swelled to 14-7 prior to Hilo's five-point run causing the Sunbirds to take a timeout.

FPU kept the mistakes to the minimum, rebuilding a 19-14 lead, before Hilo stormed back again to pull within one.

Sounart and Melis combined on the block, stopping the Hilo run, and maintaining the lead with consecutive blocks.

"Chloe was huge for us tonight," MacNeill said of his middle. "We were able to count on our middles to be consistent and aggressive all night."

Hilo answered to tie the set at 21 before Makena Ogas asserted herself with consecutive kills and gave FPU a 23-21 lead.

Bolstered by their opponent's attack error that created match-point, the freshman Waites delivered the final kill of the night to seize the win for FPU.

Waites' kill gave her five for the night, joining Sounart, Girnius, and Speas who all had the same total.

Ogas finished with 7 kills and Acosta had 8.

Melis finished with a team-high 10 kills, underscoring FPU's balanced attack.

Setters Speas and Barakhoyeva distributed brilliantly while both found their moments to attack for themselves.

"Our setters are awesome," MacNeill added. "Both Ana and Catie moved the ball around well and put our hitters in good position to make a play. They were both active on the tips which helped keep the block on their toes for our middles."

While the win keeps Fresno Pacific unbeaten to start PacWest play, the Sunbirds will switch islands before Friday night's 10:00 p.m. (PST) match at Hawai'i Pacific.

The Sunbirds will complete the Hawai'i trip Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m. (PST) in Honolulu against Chaminade.