COMEBACK KIDS
AZUSA, Calif. — California Baptist University matched the best start under a Ryan McGuyre coached team with their 12th straight win with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-22) victory over No. 10 Azusa Pacific in what was selected as the NAIA Game of the Week.
Fei Shi posted her sixth double-double, leading the Lancers (12-0, 2-0 GSAC) with 12 kills and 15 digs. She also hit .370 for the night and led the team in aces as well with two. It was the second straight match that the Lancers had four players in double figure kills.
Ingrid Carmona ripped 11 while
Noelle Dyk and
Jessica Ewoldt each had 10.
On the defensive side,
Kari Oliver posted 14 digs while
Bree Rauschenbach notched three blocks.
CBU also posted its highest hitting percentage of the season at .398 (48-9-98). The Lancers hit over .400 in the first two sets, .414 in the first and .447 in the second, before hitting .323 in the final set.
The Lancers rebounded from trailing in the first set to a 12-12 tie and then took the lead from APU with a 13-6 run to close out the set. After a service error broke the tie, Carmona put CBU up 14-12 with a kill. The Cougars got a kill to cut it to 14-13, but a Rauschenbach kill and a pair of APU errors gave the Lancers a 17-13 lead and forced a timeout. CBU jumped out to a 19-14 lead, before the Cougars scored four straight to get within one at 19-18. That was the last point APU scored as Shi and Dyk scored four of the final six points of the set to put CBU up 1-0 in the match.
CBU trailed to start the second set as well and just like the first set finished strong. After falling behind 13-11, the Lancers closed out the set with a 14-3 run. The run was sparked by a five straight points, four of which came from Shi kills, to put the Lancers up 16-13. APU finally answered with a Jill Baker kill, but CBU scored the next five points, including a pair of Dyk kills to jump out to a 21-14 advantage. Ewoldt then ripped back-to-back kills to give CBU a 23-15 lead before Dyk and Carmona closed it out with consecutive kills to finish the set at 25-16.
The final set was no different than the other two except for how much CBU trailed early in the set. APU jumped out to an 11-6 lead to force a CBU timeout and then drew the Lancers' final timeout with a 13-7 lead. The Cougars matched their biggest lead of the set at 16-10 before the Lancers began to work their way back into the set. The Lancers used a 10-4 run to tie it at 20, but APU retook the lead at 21-20 on a Baker kill. A Cougar service error tied the set at 21 and a Dyk kill gave the Lancers their first lead of the set since it scored the first point to lead 1-0. APU went right back to Baker to tie it at 22, but the Lancers brought home the win by scoring the final three points.
The 2008 Lancers started the season 12-0 last year before falling to No. 1 Fresno Pacific. The school record for most wins to start a season is 17 set by the 1999 team and 17 straight is also the record for most consecutive wins that both the 1999 and 2004 team hold. The 2004 team won their final 17 matches, including the program's first national title.
CBU will now get set for its 2009 home opener when they host No. 7 Point Loma Nazarene, Tuesday, who is 10-0 and will open their conference season tomorrow against The Master's.
