California Baptist University
Cal Poly Pomona
BRONC BUSTIN'
9/5/2008 7:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
RIVERSIDE, Calif. ? It took California Baptist 27 sets before it finally dropped one, but it didn't phase the No. 2 Lancers in a 3-1 (25-18, 25-19, 21-25, 25-20) win over NCAA Division II Cal Poly Pomona. CBU had won 26 straight sets to start the 2008 season, but just missed winning its 27th straight.
Despite just missing what could have been a record-setting start to the season, the Lancers (9-0) still set the mark for consecutive wins to start the season in the Ryan McGuyre era. The 2004 national title team went 8-0 before its first loss.
“I have been so proud and impressed on how steady our girls have been this year,” said McGuyre. “I don't think we have had major highs or lows this season. We just came out flat in the third set. We missed too many serves. We tried to make some tactical adjustments defensively and I probably didn't communicate that well.”
Fei Shi was brilliant again notching her third double-double of the year with 19 kills and 15 digs. Shi hit at a .326 clip for the night and added a pair of blocks. Noelle Dyk also came up with a season-high performance with 16 kills to go with Colleen Sweeney's 10 kills. Krista Hasemeyer also dished out a season-high 49 assists.
“Fei will always be a low error hitter and Noelle has just come on so strong,” said McGuyre. “Noelle has really had to adjust the most because my coaching style is different than what she came from at North Carolina. I think they both are capable of even more fire power.”
Katrina Clark put up a season-high 21 digs while Bree Rauschenbach posted a season-high four blocks.
“We spent a lot of time on our middles yesterday,” said McGuyre. “We're really young with freshmen middles and a freshman setter. It just takes some time to get everyone up to speed.”
In the opening set, it looked like California Baptist might not even pull off the win much less a straight-set win after falling behind 7-1. After McGuyre called a timeout CBU began to gnaw its way back into the contest. Down 14-8, the Lancers rattled off nine straight points, including four kills from Shi, to take a 17-14 lead. CBU took care of business from there by closing out the set with an 8-4 run to make it 1-0 in the match.
The second set saw five ties and three lead changes before a 6-2 run gave the Lancers a 15-11 advantage and a lead that they didn't relinquish. CBU seemed to be controlling the third set after taking a 17-14 lead on a 4-0 run, but the Broncos answered with a 7-1 run to take a 21-18 lead and forced a CBU timeout. Fei brought it back to 21-20 with back-to-back kills, but a CPP kill and two CBU errors left the Broncos with game-point at 24-20. Pomona put it away to force a fourth set and snapped the Lancers consecutive set streak.
CBU rebounded in the fourth set to hit .361 (16-3-36), the highest clip in any set, and cruised from there to take the match.
“We didn't' want to mess around and go into a fifth set,” said McGuyre. “We dialed in on the fourth set and really kept our errors down.”
The Lancers don't get any rest as they prepare for a two-match day Saturday up in Santa Barbara, Calif., at the Westmont Tournament. CBU takes on Dominican (Calif.) at 11 a.m. and then will play San Francisco State at 2 p.m.
