SIEFKEN'S GRAND ENTRANCE

Tuesday, November 14

Riverside

7 p.m.

California Baptist University

Point Loma

SIEFKEN'S GRAND ENTRANCE

11/14/2006 8:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- The last time California Baptist, the NAIA's 2-time defending champion, lost a match?or even a set?to Point Loma Nazarene was Nov. 13, 2003.

Three years and a day later, the Lancers swept the Sea Lions, 30-22, 30-21, 30-19, to ensure themselves a spot at not only the Region II semifinals and finals this weekend, but at the NAIA National Tournament, Nov. 29-Dec. 2 in Columbia, MO.

The Lancers (27-6) will travel to Fresno Pacific this Friday for a semifinal match against Concordia, which beat Vanguard earlier tonight to advance to the semis. The Sea Lions conclude their season at 20-9.

Verania Willis, who was named to the All-GSAC team for the second year in a row and is this week's GSAC Player of the Week, set a school 3-game record with 26 kills on the night and hit .590 (26-3-39).

But in its first postseason contest of the year, it may have been California Baptist's defense?not necessarily its hitting?that gave the Lancers their third first-round regional win in as many seasons.

“I'm very happy with the defensive effort tonight,” said California Baptist head coach Ryan McGuyre. “We held [Point Loma hitters] Kate Alderson, Melissa Boer and Natalie Acklin to less than 10 percent [hitting percentage] each, and that was our game plan coming in. We did what we needed to do, and we're happy with that.”

Lindsey Siefken's 1,001st career kill capped off the third set with the Lancers on top 30-19. She becomes only the sixth player in school history to notch 1,000 kills for her career with the milestone.

In addition to 8 kills on the night, Siefken led the field with 5 blocks and chipped in an ace.

“I'm super proud of Lindsey,” said McGuyre. “I think she's been the most underestimated player on our team for years. She's always had an impact on each match, as well as spiritually for our team, so it's nice to see her leave a mark on the record books as well.”

Verania Willis already had smacked 14 kills after the first 2 sets, following an 11-kill showing in game 2. The Lancers hit .326 (19-5-43) in the game while holding Point Loma Nazarene to just 9 kills and a .023 (9-8-43) hitting percentage.

A block by Angela Willis and Rachel Gowen made the game-2 score 14-9, and the Lancers rolled to a 19-13 advantage following another block by Shi Fei and Siefken, who finished with 5 kills and 4 blocks.

Point Loma had narrowed the gap thanks to consecutive Lancer errors at 20-18, but Yudelka Bonilla slashed a kill to jumpstart a 5-0 rally that featured a trio of Verania Willis kills to bring the score to 25-10 in favor of CBU.

The Lancers put the Sea Lions away on a block by Fei and Bonilla at 30-21.

In the opening game, the Lancer capitalized on a service error from Point Loma to score 5 unanswered points, thanks to a kill from Angela Willis followed by back-to-back kills from Verania Willis that opened up a 13-8 lead.

Fei had 4 kills on 6 errorless swings to lead the Lancers in game one, as they outhit the Sea Lions .217 (17-7-46) to .026 (9-8-38) to start the match.

Siefken also added a 2 kills and a pair of blocks as California Baptist finished out a 30-22 first set on a 10-5 rally.

“I'm so glad that I was able to [reach 1,000 kills] here in front of the home fans,” said Siefken, who is just one game away from tying the school record for career appearances. “I couldn't have done anything without my team's support?I'm so thankful for them.”