California Baptist University
University of Nebraska at Omaha
MOUNTAIN HIGHS AND LOWS
9/10/2011 3:57:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Lancers lost a heartbreaking five-set match (18-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 16-14) to open the day at the Colorado Premiere Challenge against Nebraska-Omaha, but showed no ill effects less than two hours later as they swept their first ranked opponent of the season. The win gives CBU the top spot in its pool at the early season tournament.
"I am extremely proud of the determination our girls showed today," said Head Coach Ryan McGuyre. "It was a tough loss to take early in the day, but they turned around and showed they could overcome it and beat a pretty good team."
CBU ended the day with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-22) win over Seattle Pacific, which had defeated UNO 3-0 earlier in the day.
The Lancers and Falcons played neck-and-neck to open the nightcap and it wasn't until late in the first set that a kill by Ingrid Carmona and then a service ace by Taylor Parker helped spark a 21-16 advantage for CBU. The Lancers would take the first 25-19.
"We were just hitting a really high percentage at that point," said McGuyre, whose team scorched the court with a .406 hitting percentage in the first set. "I was actually pleased with our offense in both matches, but in that second one we stayed aggressive and that was the difference."
After a 25-20 win in the second set, CBU finished the contest with a match high .462 attack percentage in the third to pull out a narrow 25-22 victory.
The Lancers actually trailed late in the final game, 20-16, but would go on a 9-2 run to close the match. Carmona had two kills and assisted on a block during the run, and Jessica Kalama and Andrea Csaszi closed the match with back-to-back kills.
Carmona led CBU with 12 kills and hit .333. Csaszi hit a team high .400 and led the Lancers with 10 digs. SPU had a trio of players post 12 kills and the Falcon's Anna Herold posted 17 digs.
"We are still figuring things out as a team overall, but I couldn't be more pleased with how the girls responded and fixed what went wrong with closing out that first match," said McGuyre. "We blocked better against Seattle Pacific and didn't let up at the end of the third set."
CBU, which had not lost a set in its first four matches going into Friday, seemed poised to continue that streak, taking a 2-0 lead early in the opener against Nebraska-Omaha before suffering the heartbreaking loss.
Just seven points away from their fifth straight sweep, the Lancers held an 18-14 lead. Better late than never for UNO, the Mavs mounted a charge, going on a 6-1 run to take a 20-19 lead. Another 4-1 run by UNO helped the Mavs finish off a 25-22 victory. A 25-19 victory in the fourth for UNO forced the fifth and deciding game.
The two teams played even nearly the entire set, trading three point runs back and forth. After one of those runs, the Mavs took a 12-9 lead late in the game. Even after CBU battled back to take match point at 14-13, the Mavs had one last spurt in them. Out of a timeout, a service error and bad set gave away the Lancers' match point and allowed Abby Sorensen to finish the contest with a kill.
The final set featured seven ties and four lead changes, more than any other game in the match. After hitting .309 in the first three sets, the Lancers hit just .163 in the final two. The third and fourth were the only two games UNO hit above .200 for the match.
Carmona led the team with 19 kills and Jelena Dragovic and Bree Rauschenbach had 12 and 10 respectively while hitting over .400. Kalama led CBU with 17 digs and Jordyn Siko posted 49 assists. UNO mirrored CBU's stat line with Sorensen posting 19 kills, Angie Reicks 17 digs and Emily Myers 49 assists.
"The team was definitely dejected after that match," said McGuyre. "We did things the hard way today, but still won our pool and that's exactly where we wanted to be."
The Lancers (5-1) now face four-time NCAA Division II defending champions No. 1-ranked Concordia-St. Paul tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. in what will surely be their biggest test of the young season. Follow all the action live on the Tournament Central page.
