Rival Sweep

Wednesday, October 22

Riverside

7:00 PM

California Baptist University

Azusa Pacific

CBU

Photo by: Lauren Garcia

10/22/2014 9:47:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – With bragging rights over its rival and standings in the PacWest on the line, California Baptist University did not want to give Azusa Pacific any hope.

Despite being down four points late to the Cougars in the first set, the Lancers rallied for a big victory and rode that momentum to a sweep of their rivals, 26-24, 25-21, 25-20, Wednesday night in the Van Dyne Gym. CBU improved to 13-7, 9-3 in the PacWest, with all six of its home wins coming on sweeps. APU falls to 11-10, 7-5.

"I think getting off to a good start and winning that first set is really, really important, especially in a rivalry match," Coach Branden Higa said. "We're in our house and we don't want to give anyone hope they can compete with us here."

Things were pretty even in the first set until APU embarked on a 4-1 run that gave it a 21-17 advantage. Higa called timeout, allowing the Lancers to get their feet back.

"It didn't even feel like we were down to be honest, just that we needed to pick it up a little bit," middle blocker Jessica Harris said. "We were just in a lull, but we were able to get ourselves out of it and come back strong.

"We reset and refocused in the timeout, we decided to pass a high ball to get our hitters going and it worked out."

Lauren Marr was the beneficiary of that high ball, as she laid down a kill right out of the break. Then Lauren Hackett rattled off two-straight Lancer kills to force the Cougars to call a timeout with just a one-point lead, 21-20.

It was not as fruitful as CBU's timeout, however. Consecutive errors gave the Lancers the lead and a sneaky kill from Jordyn Siko extended it to 23-21. APU was not done yet, though, as it scored straight points to knot things up at 23-23. Hackett gave CBU set point, 24-23, but the Cougars tied things again at 24-24. Hackett forced another set point and an attack error sealed the opener for the Lancers, 26-24.

"We were confident tonight and we played together really well," Harris said. "We just came together as a team and it all came out good in the end."

Sure, the rest of the sets were played pretty close but it never felt like CBU was in any danger from there. Michelle Waber finished with a team-high 12 kills, while three other Lancers -- Hackett, Jenna Perry and Lauren Marr logged at least eight kills. Hackett and Perry did so with attack percentages of .381 and .375. CBU ended the match with a team-attack percentage of .291, recording 43 kills and just 11 errors on 110 attempts.

Harris continued to be a force on both sides of the net for CBU, with four kills and three blocks. Jordyn Siko also had three blocks to go along with her three kills and six digs. APU hit at a .209 clip, thanks to the defense of Becky Moodie and Kristin McCord, who both had 11 digs for CBU, which also received seven digs each from Tori Hinderaker and Waber.

"We hold our composure well, especially in serve receive, we were solid in that all night," Higa said. "That and our defense led us back in that first set."

In the second set, both sides found themselves locked in a 10-10 tie. Kills from Marr and Waber led to a 4-1 CBU run. APU closed within one, 14-13, but a service error gave the Lancers back the momentum, as they scored five of the next six points, with Hackett capping the run with a kill for a 19-14 advantage.

It was too big a deficit for the Cougars to recover from. They managed to pull within two, but Waber notched two of her team's final four points with kills, while Marr closed out the set, 25-21, with a kill.

Feeling sweep, CBU took control early in the third and final set thanks to a 7-2 run, sparked by two kills from Perry and another from Siko. CBU increased its lead to seven, 16-9, on two kills from Perry and others from Siko, Waber and Harris.

The Cougars cut back within two, 17-15, with a 4-0 run but another timeout allowed the Lancers to stay even keeled. Three APU errors and two Waber kills restored CBU's lead to six, 22-16, and from there the Lancers traded points before securing the set, 25-20, and match on a 2-0 run.

Now, CBU begins arguably its toughest slate of the PacWest season. It starts with a trip to Dixie State (14-16, 11-1) for an 11 a.m. match Saturday. The Lancers then return to host Point Loma (12-9, 9-4) and the Red Storm – both top-five teams in the conference – next Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m.

"Oh, we're ready, we're excited, we've known this stretch was coming for a long time," Higa said. "This is moving time for everyone in the conference because all of the top teams are going to play each other in the next two weeks."