GUESS WHO
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Guess who seems to becoming evermore the theme of No. 2 California Baptist University this year as seven different Lancers have led the team in kills on a given night. It was a trio of Lancers Thursday night that each had nine kills in a 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-19) win over No. 6 Azusa Pacific.
Melinda Adelin,
Fei Shi and
Noelle Dyk each tallied nine kills for CBU (19-2, 9-2 GSAC) while Dyk was just three digs short of a double-double with seven.
Ingrid Carmona was close behind with seven kills.
Bree Rauschenbach and
Colleen Sweeney combined for 11 kills and nine blocks as Rauschenbach tied a season high with six blocks to add to her six kills.
“We had a great week of practice and it looks like it's going to be a fun second time through in the conference,” said CBU head coach Ryan McGuyre. “There are so many areas that we can improve on and we touched on some of those this week so it was fun to see that tonight. Depth is definitely our strength. Last year we were two hitters, but this year you never know where the kills are coming from.”
Krista Hasemeyer posted her fourth double-double of the year with 15 assists and 10 digs.
Katie Lockard matched Hasemeyer's 10 digs while
Danielle Sargant dished out a match-high 22 assists.
Kari Oliver recorded a match-high 20 digs; her fourth 20-dig match of the year.
CBU held the Cougars (17-7, 8-4) to just a .101 (30-18-119) clip while hitting .295 (45-14-105) as a team. The Lancers out dug APU, 60-38, and had 10.5 blocks compared to Azusa's seven. It was the most blocks by the Lancers since they had 10.5 against Westminster, Sept. 5.
“That's about as big of a gap in digs as you will see in a three-set match,” said McGuyre. “We had three girls in double-digits so we were pretty tough defensively. Blocking was our biggest weakness in the first half of the conference season. We were great preseason and it disappeared on us in some key matches. We've turned it around lately and it's going to stay a focal point.”
The Lancers led from start to finish in the opening set, but didn't break away from the Cougars until midway through the set. Leading 15-12, CBU got back-to-back kills from Adelin, and Rauschenbach added another to put the Lancers up 18-12. After an APU timeout, Jill Baker responded with a kill, but The Lancers scored three straight to take a 21-13 lead. CBU took its largest lead of the set at 24-14 before the Cougars answered with four straight to make it 24-18. The Lancers took the set on an Amy Alkazin service error.
After scoring the first three points of the second set, the Lancers led by just one at 6-5 after a 5-3 run by the Cougars. It was Adelin again who sparked a run, but this one carried CBU through the entire set. The Lancers outscored APU 19-9 through the rest of the set to take a 2-0 match lead.
CBU opened the third set on an 8-2 run, but the Cougars closed the gap to four at 13-9. The Lancers led by no more than six through the rest of the set, but APU never got closer than four in the final stretch.
The Lancers don't have much time to rest as they turn around Saturday and host Westmont for a 7 p.m. GSAC contest in Van Dyne Gym.
