Finding Their Fire

Saturday, October 10

Riverside, Calif.

7 PM

California Baptist University

Chaminade

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Chaminade	22	25	20	20	1
California Baptist	25	22	25	25	3

Photo by: Jacob Gonzalez

10/10/2015 10:06:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – It was no secret to either side that Saturday night's PacWest match between California Baptist University and Chaminade was for a share of first place in the conference.

As it has shown multiple times this season, the Lancers rose to the occasion and defeated a strong Silverswords squad in four sets, 25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 25-20. CBU improved to 13-3, 6-2 in conference and CUH dropped to 12-4, 5-3. BYU-Hawaii played and lost an afternoon match at Azusa Pacific, to set up the first-place battle in the Van Dyne Gym after the Seasiders had overcome a two-set hole to defeat CBU in five on Tuesday.

"We like that pressure," middle blocker Abbie Gortsema said. "All this week we talked about bouncing back, and we talked all week how we were going to respond to that. We knew this was the opportunity to bounce back. We had four matches in seven days and being able to pull through at the end and get to first was the extra motivation we needed."

"I think we play well in big matches, and we train for matches like this," Coach Branden Higa said. "We got out to a shaky start but as soon as we steady out, decide to keep it simple and just play volleyball, good things happen."

Toward the end of the match, intensity ratcheted up and the Lancers came through when pushed by Chaminade. Higa praised the play of senior setter Jordyn Siko in leading the Lancers passed a challenging foe.

"I think Jordyn's response as a leader when they were coming at us down the stretch was huge," Higa said. "We definitely followed her lead tonight when things got tough."

Siko finished with a double-double on the night (37 assists and 12 digs), while CBU hit .259 (52 kills, 16 errors on 139 attempts) in the match. She also had six kills on nine attempts and arguably the biggest one of the night, as she pumped up the home crowd with a spike off a Chaminade player, which also gave CBU a 7-5 lead in the clinching set four.

Siko's rallying call most notably ignited CBU's blocking in the fourth set -- led by Gortsema, who had nine blocks and seven kills on the night. The Lancers out blocked the Swords 12-7 in the match and 9-2 after the first set. CBU posted three blocks in the fourth set, with Gortsema in on each one. Every late block gave CBU a giant wave of momentum in front of an energized crowd.

"We found a fire deep within us," Gortsema said. "We got really fired up. We knew whoever won tonight would be in first place and our competitive spirit really came out in the fourth. We knew who their good hitters were and we focused on blocking them and it worked."

The fourth set was tied 11-11 before the Lancers rattled off six straight points on two kills from Jenna Perry, another from Lauren Marr and a combo block from Gortsema and Perry. A 3-0 CBU run gave it a 20-12 lead, with kills from Perry and Gortsema sandwiching a block from Gortsema and Siko.

"Our blockers did a good job of recognizing who was hitting, who we needed to stop and then closing the block," Higa said. "It paid off big time in the fourth set."

The Silverswords managed to pull within 21-18 before a kill from Lauren Hackett and ace from Tori Ortman gave the Lancers some breathing room, up 23-18. Hackett closed things out, scoring three of her team's final four points on kills.

In set one, the Lancers used what is becoming one of their signature, crazy comebacks to grab an early lead. Down 18-11, CBU came alive and took a lead with an 8-0 run, with two kills from Perry, a Silversword error, two Kiera Brunson aces and a block from Gortsema serving as the fuel.

When Chaminade tied things at 19, the Lancers took three of the next four points and a 22-20 lead on a kill by Siko and combo block between her and Gortsema. A kill from Siko and another from Brunson completed the comeback for CBU.

A late 3-0 run bookended by a Siko kill and Ortman ace gave CBU a big 22-18 lead in set three. Hackett and Marr logged kills in two of the Lancers' final three points in the win, 25-20.

Hackett and Perry smashed 16 and four blocks and 14 kills and three blocks, respectively, in the match. Ortman finished with 16 digs and two aces. Brunson finished with three kills, three blocks, three digs and two aces, as well, in the win. CBU will look to keep its two-match winning streak going with PacWest matches against Holy Names and Dominican awaiting Thursday and Saturday, respectively.