CBU Wins in Raucous Home Opener

Saturday, September 17

Riverside, Calif.

5 p.m.

California Baptist University

Fresno Pacific

California Baptist

Photo by: Jacob Gonzalez

CBU Wins in Raucous Home Opener

9/17/2016 7:38:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – After spending the first two weeks on the road, California Baptist University was anxious to get back onto its home court and hear the cheers of its Crazies in the Van Dyne Gym.

While opening the PacWest and home season simultaneously, the Lancers were lauded aplenty in a sweep of Fresno Pacific, 25-20, 25-9, 25-21, Saturday night. CBU improves to 6-3, 1-0 in the PacWest and the Sunbirds slip to 2-4, 0-1.

"It feels great, it's always good to come home," Coach Branden Higa said. "Our crowd is unbelievable, it was an awesome turnout on a Saturday afternoon and we felt it."

It was loudest on the final play of the night, with CBU serving on match point. FPU managed to return the serve, and true freshman Elizabeth Gilley made a brilliant diving dig to keep the ball alive. Setter Sydney Kralj intuitively kicked the ball up to the raucous approval of the Lancer fans.

CBU miraculously managed to get the ball over, and the Sunbirds got lost in the chaos, committing a set error to end the match, as the Lancer bench stormed the court.

"That was awesome, I haven't seen a kick in a long time actually go well," outside hitter Lauren Hackett said. "During it, I was just thinking, we have to win this point, this is so cool! The cool factor was there, so we had to get that point."

There was perhaps no better ending for Higa after he had been preaching his team to trust their teammates and their instincts to make a crazy play.

"It's ironic," said Higa, "that's a great way for the match to end, especially because we were just so out of sync in that third set. We battled and hung in there, though."

It was a match won at the serve line, as the Lancers out aced Fresno Pacific seven to one.

"Our serve receive was solid and that's really what we relied upon; it was a good win," Higa said.

Somehow in just three sets, three Lancers finished with double-digit kills, as the team hit at a .424 percentage (44 kills and eight errors on 85 attempts). Lauren Marr hit .667 (11-1-15), Jenna Perry wound up with a .455 percentage (12-2-22) and Hackett rounded out the group at .444 (14-2-27).

"It's unique because most teams in our conference only have one or two big hitters," Hackett said. "We always have both pins ready to go, we have middles ready to go, back-row attacks ready to go that are just as fierce as front-row attacks. That sets us apart because you really can't use a block scheme against us."

Hackett put together an all-around performance, with a match-high nine digs, four of CBU's seven aces and a block. Kralj ended up with 38 assists and Tori Ortman chipped in seven digs. On her birthday, Abbie Gortsema finished with three kills, two blocks and a dig.

Admittedly nervous to start the match, CBU saw Fresno Pacific rattle off a 4-0 run to force a 9-9 tie in the first set. The Lancers shook out the butterflies and used a 5-1 charge fueled by three Hackett kills to take a 14-10 advantage.

CBU upped its lead to five, 20-15, with a 5-2 run coming on two kills from Perry and one each from Gortsema and Jessica Harris. The Lancers closed out the set with five kills: two from Hackett and one from Harris, Perry and Marr.

"I think there was a lot of build up to open at home, which led to a nervous beginning," Hackett said. "Once we got back into the feel of being at home, having our own fans cheer for us and having the comfort of seeing our own colors around us, we shook out the nerves and played a lot better."

As a result, there was no stopping CBU in set two. Perry and Hackett each produced five kills in the set. An 11-0 run put things away early at a 15-4 FPU deficit, as the Lancers hit .440 (13-2-25) in the frame and sided out at 80-percent (8-for-10).

Things got tight in the third set, with Fresno Pacific threatening late and forcing a CBU timeout with a 19-15 lead. The Lancers went on a 5-0 run after the timeout after a kill and block from Perry to take a 20-19 edge.

"It's dangerous anytime you beat a team by that much, like we did in set two, because you feel like you've got it," Hackett said. "I think we just got too comfortable because it can go to five sets at any time."

Perry broke a 20-20 tie and Hackett notched consecutive aces to give CBU a big three-point lead, 23-20, late before the final two points were scored in exhilarating fashion.

The Lancers are on the road next week, taking on PacWest foes Holy Names Wednesday, Notre Dame de Namur Friday and Dominican on Saturday. The first two matches start at 7 p.m., while the Northern California road trips ends at 4 p.m. Saturday in San Rafael.