Volleyball Wins Thriller in Front of Best Home Crowd Since 2019

Thursday, October 13

Riverside, Calif.

7 PM

California Baptist University

8-9,3-3WAC

Abilene Christian

4-14,1-5WAC

Abilene Christian

California Baptist

Photo by: Ella DuPree

Volleyball Wins Thriller in Front of Best Home Crowd Since 2019

10/13/2022 10:14:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Mike Minyard, Assoc. AD for External Relations

RIVERSIDE – California Baptist University volleyball defeated Abilene Christian, 3-1, in a Western Athletic Conference match-up in front of a season-high 1,870 fans at the CBU Events Center on Thursday night.

"It's always special when we play in the Events Center," said CBU head coach Branden Higa after the match. "It's such a great venue for volleyball and the crowd was electric."

CBU dropped the first set, but went on to win the next three (17-25, 25-16, 25-17, 26-24). The Lancers closed the match out with a tight 26-24 finish with the full support of arena.

"I'm really happy with how our team responded to a tough opening set tonight," said Higa. "We made some uncharacteristic errors in that set but our bounce back was solid."

Christine Graf led the Lancers with 16 kills and four blocks while Laura Walewska had 14 kills and four blocks. Leah Pease had a game-high 39 assists, and Paige Johnstone contributed 15 digs. Senior Chandler Gorman also had seven kills and a team-high five blocks.

"It takes a total team effort to win in our sport," Higa explained. "Christine had a great match. Her ability to terminate efficiently is high-level and she proved it once again. But our middles, Chandler and Laura both had great nights for us. I'm so happy for them. Our group of middles have been working really hard to learn and get better, and it's great to see it pay off with two great performances tonight."

The crowd this evening was the largest the Lancers have played in front of, home or away, since hosting CSU Bakersfield in front of 3,418 spectators in a 3-2 win in the CBU Events Center on October 21, 2019. In fact, tonight's attendance was the third best crowd, home or away, CBU has played in front of since the NCAA Division I era began for the program with the 2018 season.

LANCERS WIN! CBU takes down Abilene Christian 3-1 at the CBU Events Center in front of a season-high crowd 1,870!#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/JgSgvzfzYI
— California Baptist Volleyball (@CBUvolleyball) October 14, 2022

With tonight's crowd, the Lancers join the Top 10 list for best attended home women's volleyball matches in the State of California during the 2022 season to date:

7,217: USC at UCLA (Sept. 22)
4,059: Texas at Stanford (Sept. 4)
3,589: Washington at Stanford (Sept. 30)
2,839: Pacific at CSU Bakersfield (Sept. 16)
2,426: Louisville at Stanford (Sept. 17)
2,276: Hawaii at Long Beach State (Oct. 1)
1,953: UC Santa Barbara at UC San Diego (Sept. 23)
1,870: Abilene Christian at California Baptist (Oct. 13)
1,828: Washington State at Stanford (Oct. 2)
1,811: Loyola Marymount at Long Beach State (Sept. 17)

CBU improved to 8-9 overall and 3-3 in WAC play with the win, while ACU is now 4-14 overall and 1-5 in league action.

It's a quick turnaround for CBU as they will hit the road to take on Tarleton State in Stephenville, Texas, on Saturday at 1 p.m. Fans can tune in on ESPN+.