Switch Flipped in Van Dyne

Saturday, October 17

Riverside, Calif.

2 PM

California Baptist University

Dominican

California Baptist

Photo by: Jacob Gonzalez

Switch Flipped in Van Dyne

10/17/2015 4:34:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Comebacks have been far from foreign for California Baptist University this season, but the Lancers found themselves in a new precarious position Saturday afternoon.

With nothing to lose, the Dominican University of California Penguins came all out and pushed first-place CBU. For just the second time in 2015, CBU found itself trailing after the first three sets, but a huddle between the third and fourth sets helped put things in perspective for the Lancers.

"Everyone was kind of confused to why we were down," defensive specialist Nicci Hinderaker said. "We really had to pick it up and everyone kind of flipped a switch."

The win helped keep CBU's hopes of a PacWest championship alive, as it improve to 15-3, 8-2 in conference this season. Dominican fell to 5-11, 2-8 on the year. BYU-Hawaii, which came into the day tied with CBU, was set to tip off later Saturday night with Notre Dame de Namur.

The Lancers rallied out of the 2-1 hole with strong performances in the fourth and fifth sets for a 25-17, 22-25, 20-25, 25-17, 15-8 victory in the Van Dyne Gym. In the fourth and fifth sets, the Lancers held DUC to a .051 hitting percentage (10 kills, seven errors on 59 attempts) and posted a 76 sideout percentage (19-25).

"It felt like there was no way we were going to lose that fifth set," Hinderaker said. "We started strong and were really focused the rest of the way."

Outside of a dominant first set in which it logged a sideout percentage of 88 (16-18), CBU struggled to contain the Penguins' offense in the early going Saturday. The switch was flipped from the fourth set on. The Lancers had five of its eight blocks in the last two sets and Hinderaker logged half of her career-high 18 digs late, as well.

"Our coaches came into the huddle and asked, 'Do you want to show everyone what we're about, or do you want to just quit and give this match to them?'" Hinderaker said. "'We're fighting for first, they have nothing to lose and we do – let's defend our home court.'"

CBU started the fourth on a 6-3 run but the Penguins would bring it back to a 10-10 tie. The Lancers pulled away with a 5-0 run that gave it a 19-13 edge. Kills from Lauren Marr, Kristin McCord, Abbie Gortsema and Lauren Hackett fueled the charge.

Hackett then rattled off the next three Lancer points with kills, and Jenna Perry added another to give them a 23-15 cushion. A service error and Perry spike ended the set, 25-17.

"We started defending a lot better," Hinderaker said. "We weren't just looking at someone else and expecting them to get that ball, someone was just going after it no matter where it was."

Jordyn Siko, who put up another double-double with 48 assists, 19 digs and six kills for good measure, gave CBU a jumpstart with her serving in the final set. She locked in on her target and led the Lancers out on a 4-0 run, with a block and kill from Perry and one of her aces fueling the charge.

"Jordyn did a really good job starting us out with her serving," Hinderaker said. "She went on a good run to lead us, that was a big step. Her serving kept the pressure on and our defense picked it up a lot."

Perry came out on fire in the set, logging CBU's fifth and sixth points with kills before consecutive kills from Gortsema and Siko made it an 8-4 Lancer. After the teams switched sides at the eight-point mark, a crafty solo block from Hackett got CBU to 10 first in the fifth, as well, up 10-5.

A 3-0 run bookended by kills from Gortsema and Siko gave CBU plenty of cushion, 13-6, en route to the comeback win, which was capped off by consecutive Hackett attacks.

Hackett provided her second-straight double-double with a match-high 18 kills and 11 digs. Marr followed with 16 kills on a .382 percentage (16-3-34). Perry (14) and Gortsema (10, .348) rounded out the double-digit attackers for the Lancers. Tori Ortman (12) and McCord (11) joined Siko, Hinderaker and Hackett with double-digit digs.

From here, the Lancers will kick off a five-match road trip with visits to two of the top-three teams in the PacWest at BYU-Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific on Thursday and Friday. Trips to Point Loma and Dixie State await the week after.

"It's really exciting, we are playing really solid teams on the road. It will be a good test to show ourselves, everyone else and the other teams what we are about," Hinderaker said. "We have started out really strong and now we can show everyone we aren't just strong at home but we're strong on the road."