California Baptist University
Dixie State (UT)
Dixie Sweep
10/11/2013 4:52:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
RIVERSIDE --- California Baptist University made quick work of conference foe Dixie State on Thursday, defeating the Red Storm in straight sets at home.
After battling back to win the opening set 26-24, CBU took the final two games 25-21 and 25-17 to move into a tie for second in the PacWest standings.
CBU is now 10-6 overall, 7-1 in the PacWest, while Dixie State falls to 9-5, 6-2 in conference. The Lancers are now even with defending-conference champs BYU-Hawaii in the PacWest standings.
“We really regrouped and battled back to take that first game,” said head coach Branden Higa. “We made some adjustments and the girls did a great job implementing them to turn things around. Once the second set came around, we were just playing a lot harder.”
The Lancers trailed most of the way through the opening game and were down to a final set point as the Red Storm had a 24-20 lead.
Jelena Dragovic fired a kill to keep CBU alive and then a Red Storm error forced the visitors to take a timeout with CBU trailing by two. Out of the break, Malika O'Brien and Kim McCalmont stuffed the Dixie State attack and another Red Storm error brought the Lancers all the way back to even the set at 24-24.
After Jenna Perry put a Taylor Parker set away in the back of the court to give CBU game point, O'Brien slammed the door closed, rocketing an over ball straight down to give the Lancers the 26-24 win.
From there CBU continued to pick up momentum hitting .276 in the second and firing 14 kills in the third.
“Our outside hitters really had a dominant performance tonight,” said Higa. “They were finding the right spots and were being aggressive and smart. That's something we've been working on. The blocking was phenomenal as well. We had a ton of balls that we touched and controlled coming over the net and that made transitioning easier.”
The Lancers held an 11-1 blocking advantage and had both outside hitters attack at a better than .300 clip.
McCalmont led all players with 12 kills and a .321 hitting percentage and Lauren Marr posted nine kills and hit .318.
Dixie State hit .057 for the night and didn't have a player with a double-digit kill total.
The Lancers are back in action tomorrow night as they take on Notre Dame de Namur.
