Lancers Win Record 18th Over Rival

Saturday, October 14

Riverside, Calif.

3 PM

California Baptist University

Azusa Pacific

APU

California Baptist

Photo by: Jacob Gonzalez

Lancers Win Record 18th Over Rival

10/14/2017 5:58:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – History was made by California Baptist University in a victory over PacWest-rival Azusa Pacific on Saturday. The sixth-ranked Lancers swept the No. 25 Cougars with a bonus-point win to cap it off, 25-16, 25-17, 29-27, and extend their lead in the conference to two matches.

CBU extended its win streak to 18 matches in a row, which tied the program-best start to a season and winning streak record overall in program history. The Lancers improve to 18-0 and 10-0 in the PacWest, while the Cougars drop to 15-3, 8-2.

It all came in front of an energetic, home crowd on a Saturday afternoon in the Van Dyne Gym. There wasn't much else the Lancers could have asked for before heading to Fresno Pacific next week for a 3 p.m. tilt on Saturday.

News of the record came as a surprise to the players, but not to Coach Branden Higa.

"I was aware of it, but that's just something we've never focused on," Higa said. "It doesn't matter for the team, what matters is that we beat APU and we played well."

At the same time, Higa was not about to downplay the accomplishment.

"It's pretty cool, you look back at the history of the program and those incredible NAIA teams that won national championships. For us to match that streak and do it in D-II is really, really special," he said. "We spend a lot of time trying to help our team understand the heritage. The heritage of our program is important, and for our team to be in that conversation is pretty neat."

It was an even greater moment to have done it against a rival and quality team like APU.

"I didn't know it was a record, but we are all hoping to go undefeated all year," senior outside hitter Lauren Hackett said. "It feels great, especially to get that sort of win tonight because it's a game we've been looking forward to and training for. It really tested us and it really showed our volleyball IQ."

CBU game planned for the Cougars' strong play in the middle and it paid off. The Lancers held their opponent to a .084 hitting percentage (29 kills, 19 errors on 119 attempts), with a 57-43 advantage in digs and 11-7 edge in blocks against the 10th best blocking team in NCAA Division II.

A big reason CBU was able to hold APU's middles to just 11 kills was Lancer blockers Yagoda Jedrzejczak (four kills, four blocks) and Sydney Marks (six blocks, eight kills), who combined for 12 kills and 10 blocks.

With the Lancers' block forcing the ball outside, the Cougars' pin hitters were left with a lot of one-on-one blocks. It presented a challenge for junior libero Nicci Hinderaker on the back line, but she was up to the task. She logged a match-high 19 digs, with several coming on diving attempts, as CBU did not allow an APU attacker to hit double-digit kills in the match.

"The really intriguing part is they play kind of opposite styles of us, so I was really interested to see how this chess match was going to unfold," Higa said. "We executed the game plan, our middles did a great job of getting touches and slowing them down. I thought defensively Nicci made up for a lot of plays where we had to overcommit on a middle and they got one-on-one stuff. She got really dialed in around the second set."

Hackett posted a match-high 16 kills on a .355 percentage (16-5-31), eight digs and three blocks. Madison Witt finished with a double-double on 11 kills, 11 digs, and six blocks, and McKenna Witt added nine kills and nine digs. Setter Sydney Kralj posted 41 assists, three digs and two kills.

"Their blockers really tested me, so I started thinking how I could do this smarter," Hackett said. "Our big goal is to get our hitters to hit at the highest point they can, and we really focused on that. Sydney [Kralj] was setting some really great, high sets and I was able to get those high swings into the deep corner."

For just the third time all season, CBU was forced into a bonus-point set in the third when APU forced a 24-24 tie. Despite being in foreign territory, the Lancers were up to the challenge. Kills from Kralj, Hinderaker and McKenna ensured the Cougars never held set point.

Fourth time was the charm for the Lancers, as a kill from Madison made it 28-27 and McKenna ended the match on a thunderous kill right at a Cougar's feet.

"We weren't over hyped coming in here because we saw the same team we always get," Higa said. "Even at the end there when things got tight, we were really poised. No one was freaking out, to me that's a good sign."

CBU took an 8-4 lead in set one on a 6-1 run fueled by two kills each from Hackett and McKenna. APU took a timeout but its deficit ballooned to 19-8 on a 10-2 charge fueled by two kills and a block from Jedrzejczak and three blocks and a kill from Madison.

Azusa Pacific managed to fight back within 21-14, but a Hackett kill and two errors gave CBU set point before a set error ended it, 25-16.

"We don't want any team taking us to four sets, we want to finish things in three," Hackett said. "We really wanted to win in three, that was our goal and we did it in the end."

The Lancers trailed 7-4 in set two, but then scored five straight with McKenna serving and two-straight Marks' blocks to grab a 9-7 edge. A 6-0 run with Elizabeth Gilley (three aces) back at the service line pushed the cushion to seven, 15-8.

Once again, the Cougars scrapped back with four, 20-16, but CBU ended things quickly from there on a 5-1 run that included kills from Hackett, Madison and a team block off the hands of Jedrzejczak and Madison.