Double Trouble Leads Lancers Past Redhawks

Thursday, October 11

Seattle

6:00 PM

California Baptist University

14-5, 5-2WAC

Seattle U

8-11, 1-5WAC

CBU

Seattle University

Photo by: Reagan Lee

Double Trouble Leads Lancers Past Redhawks

10/11/2018 8:19:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

SEATTLE – A pair of double-doubles from Tesa Oaks and Natalie Zimmerer helped California Baptist University defeat Seattle U in four sets in the Redhawk Center Thursday night.

The Lancers used an impressive run to end the match in four sets (25-17, 25-18, 13-25, 26-24) for their third-straight win to improve to 14-5, 5-2 in the Western Athletic Conference. It puts CBU in a first-place tie with The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (14-7, 5-2) in the WAC, while the Redhawks drop to 8-11, 1-5 in the conference.

"I think the whole night was a testament to team play. More than anything, we played well as a team," Coach Branden Higa said. "The first two sets we won handily because we played well as a team, and in the fourth set we had to hang in, stick together and believe. The stuff you don't see in the box score is so important, the grittiness on defense, the hitter coverage and the IQ plays we had to make."

Oaks tallied 19 kills and 14 digs in the win, while Zimmerer added 42 assists, 19 digs and three blocks. It gives Oaks and Zimmerer double-doubles in consecutive matches on the year. Zimmerer has seven on the year, while Oaks has eight.

"This was probably Tesa's best game. She killed a ton of balls, didn't make errors, hit for a great percentage and had a really nice night passing. She received probably 70 percent of the balls," Higa said. "Nat defended really, really well. We knew their right side hitter was really good swinging angle and Natalie just stepped up to the challenge, that's the only way I could put it. She was really dialed in and did a really great job defending."

CBU's road trip continues with a visit to CSU Bakersfield Saturday at 1 p.m. It will be the first rematch of the WAC season for the Lancers.

Late Thursday, the Lancers found themselves in danger of being pushed to a fifth set on Thursday, as a 4-1 Redhawk run gave Seattle U set point, 24-23, in the fourth. CBU called timeout and then immediately received consecutive kills from Megan Sester to take match point, 25-24. Summer Avery aced the final point to give the Lancers an 8-3 advantage in aces in the match overall.

CBU scores the last three points of the set to win the game, 26-24, and the match in four sets! Megan Sester had consecutive kills and Summer Avery ended it on an ace! Here's a look at the final three points of the match.#LanceUp pic.twitter.com/6Vhw6wRvay
— CBU Volleyball (@CBUvolleyball) October 12, 2018

"Megan didn't have a great night but for her to come out of that timeout and find a way to get two kills is great for her," Higa said. "I've told her despite how she feels she can turn it around in a swing and all of a sudden catch fire."

CBU got a full-team effort in compiling 78 digs on the night. Nicole Abreu matched Zimmerer with a team-high 19 digs, while Avery also had 14 digs, nine kills and two blocks. Cassidy Dennison added eight digs and three aces, while Sester finished with 10 kills.

Seattle U held an 8-6 lead in set one, but an 8-3 run gave CBU a 14-11 lead. Oaks had four kills and an ace in the charge, but the Redhawks came back to force a 14-14 tie. A Sester kill and three-straight blocks from Sydney Marks – two with Avery and another with Sester – helped CBU take an 18-14 lead and never look back in the 25-17 win.

Momentum carried over into the Lancers' favor in set two, which they opened on a 7-1 run. Avery had three kills in the run, while Marks and Sester had one each.

The Redhawks fought back within three points, 15-12, but another Marks kill and a Seattle U error gave CBU some breathing room, 17-12. The Lancers' lead would not drop below four the rest of the way, as they held Seattle U under 20 points for the second set in a row.