Staying Perfect in Seattle

Saturday, September 12

Seattle

2:30 PM

California Baptist University

7-1, 0-0Pac West

Montana State Billings

1-7, 0-0GNAC

California Baptist

Montana St. Billings

Photo by: Andrew Shortall

Staying Perfect in Seattle

9/12/2015 4:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

SEATTLE – It was not going to be enough for California Baptist University to just win on Saturday at the GNAC-PacWest Crossover finale, the Lancers wanted to win their fifth-straight match with a sweep.

After seeing CBU win all 12 sets at the Crossover, hosted by Seattle Pacific in the Brougham Pavilion, Montana State-Billings put up a big fight but ultimately fell victim to the sweep on 25-18, 25-19, 25-21 scores. The Lancers wrap up their non-conference schedule with a 7-1 record, while the Yellowjackets fall to 1-7. It is CBU's finest start to a season since 2010 when it won its first 18 matches.

"It was really important to the team that they sweep because of their competitiveness," Coach Branden Higa said. "Yeah, we want to win, but we want to win in three and we want to win bigger than our competition."

Jenna Perry and Lauren Hackett tied for the match-high in kills for CBU with 13 each. Lauren Marr and Abbie Gortsema rounded out the offense with eight and seven kills, respectively. Hackett also added seven digs and two blocks, while Jordyn Siko notched 36 assists and Kristin McCord posted a team-high eight digs for the Lancers.

CBU grabbed a 10-6 lead in the first set after three kills each from Gortsema and Perry. The cushion grew to seven, 15-8, after one kill each from Marr, Hackett, Harris and Perry. The Yellowjackets made their move and pulled within 20-17 to make the Lancers sweat a bit, but MSUB made consecutive attacking errors to give CBU a 22-17 advantage that was enough to seal the victory.

In set two, there were 10 ties and three lead changes. Montana State-Billings would lead by as many as three and as late as 18-17 before the Lancers rattled off five-straight points. Hackett had two of them on kills and would score three of her team's final eight points to lead CBU back to a 25-19 win in the set.

Montana State-Billings got out big early, 9-3, in set three. An 8-3 CBU run fueled by four Hackett kills tied things at 11-11. The Lancers took their first lead of the set, 15-12, after three Yellowjacket hitting errors and a Perry kill. MSUB responded and pulled even, 15-15, but CBU ended the set on a 10-6 run.

Kills from Hackett and Perry gave the Lancers the next three points after the deadlock at 15. After MSUB pulled back within two, 22-20, Hackett spiked another ball that served as the dagger of the set.

"We got down [in sets three] because of a lack of a proper focus and energy," Higa said. "You hate having a team in that situation, but we are pretty confident in our offense – we can score in bunches – so if we can defend and be smart with the ball, we can put away some points.

"We know [scoring in bunches] alone cannot be enough in conference, the teams are too good for us to have lapses and still pull out wins."

CBU opens up conference and at home with a match against Dixie State on Friday at 7 p.m. From there, the Lancers head to rival Azusa Pacific for a 5 p.m. first serve.

"This tournament was really important for us to forming our identity and gaining confidence in the unit that's out there," Higa said. "I'm feeling good going in, I think they are up to the challenge that's out there."