Protecting Van Dyne

Friday, September 18

Riverside, Calif.

7 PM

California Baptist University

Dixie State

California Baptist

Photo by: Jacob Gonzalez

9/18/2015 10:33:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – On the edge of falling on its home floor to its PacWest rival, California Baptist University huddled and rallied around the statement that's been on its white board since the summer: "Protect Van Dyne."

In their home opener Friday night, the Lancers came close to seeing their goal of an undefeated home record in danger after Dixie State rallied from a two-set hole to force a fifth.

"Before the set we huddled together and said, 'Reality check, it's going to five, it's mandatory we protect Van Dyne,'" middle blocker Abbie Gortsema said.

CBU banded around that battle cry and prevailed over its PacWest rival, 25-14, 25-21, 24-26, 24-26, 15-11, in its conference and home opener to improve to 8-1, 1-0 in conference. The Red Storm slide to 3-6, 0-1.

"There's a really great rivalry between us and Dixie State," Coach Branden Higa said. "Every match we play is tough with them. Any team that comes into Van Dyne, they know the environment and they don't like playing here, and they get upset about it."

After being held in check over the previous three sets, the Lancers' offense hit a match-high .400 percentage (11 kills, 1 error on 25 attempts) in the fifth frame. Jordyn Siko finished the night with 53 assists and 14 digs, while Lauren Hackett (20) and Jenna Perry (18) benefitted the most from Siko's serves.

"We stuck together well and all grinded toward the same goal," Siko said. "We want to be undefeated at home, we want to win conference and make it to the [NCAA Division II playoff] tournament.

"Even though we did get down tonight, we didn't let our focus drop. Being able to come back from those tough losses is a huge mental game."

A quick start paved the way for CBU to finish out strong against Dixie State. Tied at 2-2, the Lancers used a 5-1 run -- paced by a kill each from Perry, Lauren Marr and Abbie Gortsema – to take a 7-3 lead.

The Red Storm scored two of the next three points, but Hackett got the Lancers to 10 first, 10-5, with consecutive kills. Then it was Perry's turn, as she provided CBU's 12^th and 13^th points with kills.

When DSU pulled within 13-10, Gortsema responded with a spike of her own to give the Lancers match point. Marr finished it out with a kill, sending a packed Van Dyne Gym into celebration.

While the offense came up big late, CBU's defense was the key throughout the entire match. Libero Tori Ortman dug 18 balls, true freshman Nicci Hinderaker came up with 11 of her own and Hackett came close to a double-double with nine digs.

Gortsema had nine kills on the night, but her biggest contribution was her 10 blocks. Jessica Harris had six blocks, while Siko and Perry had four each. Marr finished with seven kills and three blocks, as well.

CBU opened strong with a 25-14 victory in set one after hitting .346 (12-3-36) and holding DSU to a .000 percentage (10-10-33). Hackett had four kills on five swings and Perry had five spikes on eight attempts. In set two, things were tighter but the Lancers prevailed after five more kills from Hackett and two blocks from Gortsema.

"We came out very strong in the first and second set," Siko said. "We wanted to come out and show we can compete with them."

The Red Storm came back and won the next two sets in dramatic fashion. Dixie State pushed through and would go on to force a fifth, but the Lancers never let up.

"We lost that fourth set in pretty tough fashion, it was really tight, but the team came back with a vengeance," Higa said. "They weren't worried and they were excited about the opportunity to play a fifth set."

On Saturday, the Lancers will look to knock off another conference rival. This time it will be on the road, as they travel to Azusa Pacific for a 5 p.m. match.