California Baptist University
Georgetown College (Ky.)
POOL SWEEPERS
12/4/2008 8:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
SIOUX CITY, Iowa ? Some things just don't change; like California Baptist winning matches in pool play. The Lancers (27-8) won their 9th straight match in pool play at the NAIA Volleyball National Tournament with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-13, 25-18, 25-18) win over No. 6 Georgetown (Ky.).
At the helm, Ryan McGuyre's teams have not lost a pool play match since 2006 and he is 16-1 all time in pool play.
The Lancers now have guaranteed themselves at least a No. 4 seed in the 12-team elimination bracket and that puts them through to the quarterfinals.
“Being able to start the tournament in the quarterfinals gives you a free pass,” said McGuyre. “No one really wants to get up and play those first games tomorrow morning. This gives us a chance to get a scouting report and rest. Fei has been taking a lot of swings and with us getting that pass to the quarterfinals, that means less jumping and a fresh arm for her. I felt like we were a top-four team all year. We just need to see how we finish.”
California Baptist's two-time All-American Fei Shi had her best match of the tournament, ripping 17 kills and hit .432 to lead the Lancers. Shi also notched 14 digs, recording her third straight double-double and 12th one this year. Colleen Sweeney was close behind Shi with 12 kills and Noelle Dyk was also in double-figure kills with 10. Dyk also posted a season-high five blocks and was just a dig short of a double-double with nine. Jessica Kalama had 10 kills and hit .600 for the day.
“Colleen has played well on both sides all tournament,” said McGuyre. “Just as impressive was Kalama. She is one of our smartest girls and now she's starting to bring more heat which makes us that much tougher. Noelle's blocking changed the course of the match though. Georgetown ran slides and if we don't block that we don't win so her blocking was definitely the key.
Mical Bell also dished out a tournament-high 31 assists while Krista Hasemeyer had 23. Katrina Clark chipped in 11 digs while Bree Rauschenbach added four blocks.
The Lancers hit just .188 in the opening set but never trailed by more than three at any time. After falling in the first set, CBU came alive in the second, ripping a .625 (15-0-24) hitting percentage. The Lancers led 11-4 early and forced a Tigers' timeout and then went on a 10-4 to force another timeout after taking a 21-8 lead and eventually tied the match at one set apiece.
After going down 2-0 in the third set the Lancers used a 6-1 run and never trailed to go up 2-1 in the match. CBU trailed 8-4 early in the fourth and trailed 14-12 before using a 13-4 run to close out the match.
“We served tough and finally started blocking in the second set,” said McGuyre. “We just had to get our minds engaged in what we wanted to do. Our first line of defense is a good serve and I thought we might have been too passive in the first set. I take the most pride and excitement with all my teams in that we play our best at the end of the year. It's doing the right things after wins and losses in the season. You win champs in December, not in August, so it's good to be on our best game this late.”
The Lancers will play tomorrow at 1:15 p.m. against the winner of Azusa Pacific and Lubbock Christian (Texas) who play at 9 a.m. (CST).
