California Baptist University
Northwestern College (Iowa)
BURNING UP THE COURTS
8/31/2007 7:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
IRVINE, Calif. ? It may have been well into the 100s outside, and it wasn't too much cooler inside Concordia Arena as California Baptist University heated up the volleyball courts Friday with a 3-0 (30-18, 30-16, 30-24) win against No. 14 Northwestern (Iowa) and a 3-1 (30-22, 30-10, 28-30, 30-27) victory against No. 19 Doane (Neb.). The Lancers (4-1) took down the Red Raiders (5-1) in just one hour and 15 minutes and trailed just a few times in match two before fighting their way through the Tigers (3-3) at the Concordia Labor Day Tournament.
“We were real steady in the first match today,” said CBU head coach Ryan McGuyre. “We just lost a little momentum in the third game of the second match. I don't want to be at the point where we live and die by the serve. Until our defense is good enough to help us out when we serve, we will still need to really work on that. Offensively we are fine. We just need to make better adjustments on the fly and do a little more defensively.”
In the opening match of the day for CBU, Angela Willis had a season high six aces as the Lancers cruised in knocking off the Red Raiders. Verania Willis recorded a match high 12 kills with a .435 (12-2-23) hitting percentage. Shi Fei also ripped 10 kills while Kayla Van Duyn had 26 assists. Defensively the Lancers recorded a season high 10 blocks, six of which came by way of Angela Willis who led the team.
CBU used a 7-1 run in the opening game and closed it with a 7-0 run to take the 1-0 lead in the match. Northwestern led 8-5 in the second before the Lancers went on an 8-0 run and never trailed from that point. In the final game CBU jumped out to a 14-2 lead and held a 20-12 lead before the Red Raiders got within four at 27-23, but the Lancers held off for the first win of the day.
In the second match, Yudelka Bonilla hit a match high 17 kills, hitting .333 (17-4-39). Verania Willis had 15 kills while Fei had 14. Angela Willis ripped four more aces for a total of 10 on the day leading the Lancers who hit 24 as a team. Angela Willis led in blocks for the second straight match with four contributing to a team total of 10.
“Blocking was really our emphasis this week,” said McGuyre. “Angela is such in a rhythm in serving and led our team as a whole in serving. That has been one of our strongest points this year. Mical Bell was also a key for us tonight. Even though she didn't have a ton of aces her serve was real strong tonight.”
CBU traded leads with Doane four times before take the lead for good at 10-9 in the first game. The Lancers pushed the lead to 23-17 and then held on for the 30-22 game one win. In the second game, The Lancers used two 5-0 runs to take a 21-6 lead on their way to a 30-10 win. CBU held an early 2-1 lead in the game three, but fell behind 4-3 and never regained the lead. The Lancers cut the deficit to one four times including 29-28, but lost their first game of the tournament. CBU rebounded in the fourth game and broke a 13-13 tie with a 6-1 run to take a 19-13 lead. Doane tied the game at 25, but did not gain the lead as CBU closed out the match and the day unscathed.
The Lancers will return to action tomorrow at Concordia Arena at 1 p.m. with the College of the Ozarks (Mo.) and then will finish the tournament in Costa Mesa, Calif., at Vanguard with a 5 p.m. match against Olivet Nazarene (Ill.).
