California Baptist University
Azusa Pacific
LANCERS ESCAPE AZUSA IN FIVE
9/20/2007 7:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
AZUSA, Calif. ? The second-ranked team in the nation got a scare Thursday night as California Baptist survived a near upset from No. 9 Azusa Pacific winning 3-2 (30-18, 27-30, 33-35, 30-23 15-11). The Lancers (12-2, 5-1 GSAC) looked to be in total control after it rolled in the first game, but the Cougars (9-4, 2-3 GSAC) put up a fight winning the next two games including a grueling game three. The Lancers responded to tie the match at 2-2 before outlasting APU in the final game.
“We went in tonight without either of our starting middles,” said CBU head coach Ryan McGuyre. “We had just one day of practice to make it work. We lagged a little at times on offense, but we came up big on the defensive end. ”
The Lancers tied a season-high with 12.5 blocks. Colleen Sweeney recorded a career-high nine blocks while Verania Willis got a season-high seven blocks.
Yudelka Bonilla recorded her fifth double-double of the season and fourth in five games. The senior hit 22 kills and recorded 30 digs to lead the Lancers.
“I think Delka just realizes that this is her senior year and this is the last time she will get to play,” said McGuyre. “She is in better shape then last year and she continues to be a leader.”
Willis notched 29 kills and 17 digs. She Fei also hit 12 kills. Kayla Van Duyn and Caitlin Parker split setting duties as Van Duyn dished out 40 assists while Parker had 27. Katrina Clark had 22 digs while Van Duyn had 11.
“Caitlin did a great job tonight coming off the bench,” said McGuyre. “She really made the difference in games four and five. I told our girls Azusa was starting to play better and they did in games two and three. We just didn't play defense well in those two games, but Caitlin came in late in game three and she really got us back into it.”
CBU jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the opening game using three kills by Bonilla. The Cougars got within three at 15-12, but the Lancers outscored APU 15-6 to take a 1-0 match lead. CBU had 19 kills and hit .351 in the opening game.
The Cougars started to bounce back in the second game going up 12-9, but the Lancers answered with a 5-0 run to take a 14-12 lead. APU's Alison Pattison then tied the game at 16 with back-to-back aces. That tie was the just the second of eight ties through the game with the last coming at 26. The Cougars' Tara Chambers ripped a kill to break the tie and Jill Baker recorded two kill to give APU the 29-26 lead and eventually tied the match at 1-1.
Game three featured nine ties before APU broke a 20-20 tie with a 7-1 run. The Lancers rallied facing three match points at 29-26 to tie the game at 29. Azusa finally ended the game with an Allison Kincheloe ace to nab a 35-33 win and a 2-1 lead.
With their backs against the wall, the Lancers opened game four with a 7-1 run and never lost that lead. CBU took its biggest lead at 24-16 on a Sweeney kill. Sweeney also finished off the game with her third kill of the game. The Lancers recorded 20 kills in the fourth game hitting a .333 clip.
In the fifth game, the Lancers trailed 3-1, but used a 6-1 run capped off by a Mical Bell serve and ran with the match from there.
The win put McGuyre one win away from his 200th career victory, 139 of which have come at CBU.
The Lancers return home Tuesday to take on seventh-ranked Point Loma Nazarene at 7 p.m.
