California Baptist University
Hawaii
Battle Of Wills
2/15/2014 7:47:00 AM | Men's Volleyball
HONOLULU, Hawaii --- Both teams came out ready for a battle Friday night, even exchanging pleasantries through the net as intensity grew, each looking for a tally in the win column. California Baptist University stole momentum with an attack driven second set, but ultimately surrendered a 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-20, 25-23) defeat to the No. 11-ranked University of Hawai'i Friday night.
The Lancers drop to 3-9 overall, 2-8 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, while the Warriors improve to 9-4 on the season and 7-3 in conference.
Amir Lugo-Rodriguez finished the night without committing a single attack error to boast a .889 clip. He laid down eight kills and assisted on two blocks to tally nine points. Jackson Burge grabbed a team-high 14 kills and Johannes Brink followed with 13 kills. Kristopher Johnson put the block in middle blocker as he tallied eight total blocks on the night.
After dropping the first set with a close 25-20 score, CBU bounced back to take the second 25-22, finishing the frame with a .464 attacking percentage.
UH scored the first points of the set, but CBU hung right with them as Lugo-Rodriguez drilled down a kill. The two squads battled back-and-forth to try to put runs together, but neither could seem to shake its opponent by more than two points.
Trailing 21-19, CBU ignited on offense to go on a 5-0 run to put itself in set-point territory. Burge started the run with back-to-back kills before the Warriors took a timeout. UH conceded an error to give the Lancers the upper hand at 22-21 and Burge followed with another kill, forcing yet another timeout.
However, the Warriors surrendered another costly error to put the Lancers within set point at 24-21, but kept the set alive briefly with a kill of their own. Brett Anderson then came up big with a solo block to end the set 25-22 in favor of CBU.
Tied 1-1 and attempting to come back from the 0-1 match deficit, the Lancers cooled off in the third to drop a 25-20 set. Desperate for a win, CBU fought valiantly in the fourth, out-hitting its opponent .310 to .281, but couldn't steal another game away, falling 25-23 to surrender the 3-1 match.
CBU returns to the mainland, but continues on the road as it takes on Pepperdine on Feb. 22 at 7:00 p.m. The Lancers return home to Van Dyne Gym for a stretch of four matches, first hosting USC on Feb. 26 at 7:00 p.m.
