California Baptist University
Holy Names
Keep Calm, Carry On
9/28/2013 4:30:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
RIVERSIDE --- California Baptist University survived a late push by Holy Names Friday night at home to move its PacWest record to 5-0.
CBU cruised through the opening two games, but stumbled in the third to make things interesting. It wasn't until late in the fourth that the Lancers found their stride once again, taking the match 3-1 (25-16, 25-16, 18-25, 25-20).
“You have to give Holy Names credit,” said CBU head coach Branden Higa. “They played hard throughout the night and gave us a scare. We did a good job early playing our game and then we just got away from it. It wasn't until the end that we started to be ourselves again.”
CBU trailed by as much as three midway through the second game, but made a late push with four-straight points to take a 20-18 lead. Lauren Marr started the run off with a kill and then served her second ace of the match to give CBU its first lead of the game since being up 3-2.
“Jelena Dragovic was big for us down the stretch as well,” said Higa. “She really sparked that late run with some key plays.”
Dragovic finished the night as CBU's most effective attacker, posting a .421 hitting percentage on her 11 kills.
The Lancers finished the match off with a 5-2 run out of a timeout to put HNU away.
“This is one where we're glad to get the win, but we don't move on and forget about it,” said Higa. “There are some things we need to work on and correct, and we will.”
CBU got 24 of its 51 kills from the middle as Malika O'Brien added 13. Taylor Parker had 45 assists on the night and Katie Rotondo led the way with 13 digs.
The Hawk's Rachel Vartanian led all players with 19 kills and HNU's Tatum Bales had 17 assists.
The win moves CBU to 8-5 overall, the Hawks fall to 0-13, 0-4.
The Lancers are back in action next Tuesday as they hit the road to face old rival Azusa Pacific.
