California Baptist University
Brigham Young University - Hawaii
SEASIDER SURVIVAL
10/5/2011 6:06:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Lancers found themselves staring down defeat for much of the night, but held it off until the bitter end and then some, making even the fifth set go extra points.
"The best part was that we got to the point at the end where every ball counted," said Head Coach Ryan McGuyre. "We were playing relentlessly for every point, every ball. Our emotional energy was where it needed to be, now we just have to play like that the right way."
Following two disheartening losses in the opening games the Lancers found life when they squeaked out a game three victory.
With most of the air taken out in the quick first two losses, CBU slowly breathed life back into the gym. The Lancers ripped 13 kills and committed just five errors to force the decisive fifth.
The Lancers went down by three early, but came back to even the set at 8-8 in the fourth. CBU continued to build a lead down the stretch with Haley Musulman serving an ace and Bree Rauschenbach ripping a kill to cap a 4-1 run and give the Lancers a 22-17 lead.
BYUH would get within two, but kills from Jessica Kalama and Ingrid Carmona would end the set.
"They missed some serves in the third and fourth games which helped us and we didn't give up any big runs," said McGuyre.
In the fifth the Lancers again fell behind, but as they had all night they came back and made the finale a thriller.
As the teams switched sides CBU was down 8-4 with the Seasiders holding all the momentum. The Lancers rallied, however, rattling off four-straight points on four-straight kills to even the game. BYUH had a run of its own still left and took a 13-8 lead to force a Lancer timeout.
Kalama then went to work bringing CBU back, ripping three kills as the Lancers evened the match at 13-13. After a long rally, CBU's Jelena Dragovic barely snuck a ball over the net and the Seasiders were unable to corral it, putting the ball into the net and giving CBU match point.
Shih Ting Chen saved the Seasiders, though, with a right-handed smash down the center of the court. Chen and Lauren Hagemeyer ripped back to back kills to steal match point for the Seasiders and after the teams traded points, BYUH scored the game winning point on a block at the side of the net.
"Kalama was huge for us down the stretch," said McGuyre. "We're still not transitioning the way we need to, though."
Kalama notched 13 kills in the match, six of which came in the fifth set alone. Her .200 hitting percentage was well above the team average of .138. Andrea Csaszi led all players with 31 digs in the match, matching the fourth highest single-match total in CBU history.
Chen led all players with 22 kills for the Seasiders. BYUH's Ying Chun Chen posted a match-high 57 assists.
The Seasiders out-hit CBU .198-.138, though the Lancers' .282 hitting percentage in the fifth set bested BYUH's by nine points. The Seasiders notched 10 blocks and CBU posted nine.
"When all is said and done I really believe this team can be very good," said McGuyre. "It's just going to take some work. We need to turn that corner and figure some things out and we have a chance to do that tomorrow."
The Lancers fall to 8-7 overall, 1-3 PacWest and BYUH moves to 9-3, 6-1. CBU will have a chance at redemption just a night later as the teams will be back in action Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
