California Baptist University
Fresno Pacific
FRESNO OUTLASTS LANCERS
9/8/2007 7:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
RIVERSIDE, Calif. ? Verania Willis set the school's single-match kills record (40) and moved into second all-time in kills (1343) behind Yudelka Bonilla as No. 3 California Baptist University fell 3-2 (21-30. 30-28, 30-28, 20-30, 15-10) to No. 1 Fresno Pacific. The Lancers (7-2, 1-1 GSAC) out hit the Sunbirds (9-0, 2-0 GSAC) 80 (.275) to 60 (.174), but 21 service errors played the key stat that has hindered CBU as of late. The loss in front of a packed house (820) at Van Dyne Gymnasium was the first home opening loss since the 2003 season for the Lancers.
“I thought we were solid on defense,” said CBU head coach Ryan McGuyre. “I liked the improvements we made. We had some good blocks. We had a game plan going into the match that was fun because everything we said would happen did. We just didn't want to serve in. We would have won game two and three if we get our serves in.”
Angela Willis and Yudelka Bonilla were also in double-figures in kills as Willis had 14 and Bonilla had 12. Kayla Van Duyn had 65 assists while three Lancers had double-figure digs. Bonilla had 24, Clark had 20 and Verania Willis had 16. As a team CBU had 12.5 blocks with Angela Willis, Rachel Gowen and Bonilla all had four blocks.
The Lancers used 10 kills from Verania Willis and a 7-0 run late in the game to jump out 1-0. CBU started the game with a 4-1 run before the Sunbirds tied the game at five and then took a 6-5 lead. That was the last lead FPU had as the Lancers used a 5-1 run to take a 10-7 lead. CBU broke the game wide open with seven straight points to take a 23-14 lead before closing out the opening game at 30-21.
The Sunbirds bounced back in game two and staved off the charging Lancers. FPU held a 24-20 lead as the Lancers worked their way back to tie the game at 26 on a Verania Willis kill. CBU tied the game again at 27 on another kill by Verania Willis , but FPU closed out the game to tie the match at 1-1.
CBU took its first lead of game three at 28-27 on an Angela Willis block, but the Sunbirds scored the final three points of the game to take a 2-1 match lead. FPU climbed out to a 10-4 lead in game three, but CBU closed the gap to 12-10. FPU pushed the lead to 17-11 before the Lancers cut their deficit to 20-18 on three straight kills by Verania Willis . CBU trailed 27-25 before back-to-back kills by Angela Willis tied the game at 27.
The Lancers exploded back to life in game four. After breaking a 3-3 tie on a Verania Willis kill, CBU did not trail again in the game. The Lancers put the game away with a 7-2 run to take a 15-7 lead and then took its biggest lead at 21-11. The Lancers cruised the rest of the way to a 30-20 win and forced game five.
The Lancers looked to be in complete control holding a 4-1 advantage in the final game, but watched it slip away as the Sunbirds went on an 8-2 run and held off CBU down the stretch to grab the match.
Cal Baptist now travels to Irvine, Calif., to take on No. 2 Concordia Tuesday at 7 p.m.
