California Baptist University
The College of Idaho
YOTE HUNTING
12/3/2008 8:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
SIOUX CITY, Iowa ? California Baptist is one win away from sweeping its pool for the fifth straight year at the NAIA Volleyball National Tournament after downing No. 19 College of Idaho, 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 18-25, 25-18).
With the win, the Lancers (26-8) move to 14-0 in pool play since Ryan McGuyre's first trip to the national tournament in 2004. In the five straight trips to the national tournament, the Lancers have dropped just three sets in pool play including this year's tournament.
The Lancers spread the wealth on the attack as three Lancers ripped double-figure kills. Noelle Dyk recorded a match-high 16 digs while Colleen Sweeney and Fei Shi each chipped in 13. Sweeney hit a tournament-high .458 while Shi notched her 11th double-double on the year, and second of the tournament, with 18 digs.
“It was good to have Noelle back on track after being off of her game yesterday,” said McGuyre. “She made some great plays down the stretch and really came through for us. Colleen's efforts were solid and she was a big threat for us today. If Fei can average three to four digs per set, then that really gives us quite a few more opportunities to take swings. She really helped us by picking up those extra digs.
The Lancers also got 21 digs from Katrina Clark while Mical Bell and Krista Hasemeyer combined for 47 assists. Bell dished out the match high with 26 while Hasemeyer had 21. Rene Simon also had four blocks.
CBU hit .247 for the match while holding the Yotes to a .207 hitting percentage. The life saver for the Lancers again was the strength of serve as CBU had 11 aces compared to College of Idaho's four.
CBU quickly put the Yotes in the hole, hitting .345 in the opening set while COI hit .097. Despite getting out hit .406-.262 in the second set, the Lancers still managed to take the set and a 2-0 match lead. The Lancers hit their worst hitting percentage of any set in the third at .128, but began to build steam towards the end of the third that carried them through the fourth.
“We started the match stronger today than we did yesterday,” said McGuyre. “We fought more early, but allowed them back into it in set three. We grabbed the momentum in the last part of third that carried over into the fourth.”
California Baptist has a chance to move up as high as No. 4 in the single elimination bracket that will be played Friday and Saturday. With a win tomorrow, the seventh-ranked Lancers will have no worse than the sixth seed and with a Vanguard win and a Colombia (Mo.) loss, CBU could move all the way to the fourth seed.
The Lancers will fight for that top six spot tomorrow when they play No. 6 Georgetown (Ky.) in the final match of pool play at 1:15 p.m. (CST).
