BOX SCORE |
PHOTOS
SAN DIEGO - Things were looking good after Point Loma Nazarene trampled visiting Azusa Pacific 25-15 in the opening set Saturday afternoon. The Sea Lions were unable to hold onto the lead; however, losing the next three sets and the match 3-1 (25-15, 17-25, 22-25, 23-25).
The Sea Lions came out hot and with high energy in their first appearance.
Tabitha Henken recorded seven kills and the defense hustled hard to keep balls alive.
By the second set, Point Loma did not look like the same team. They practically traded places with the Cougars, losing 17-25 after APU slammed down 19 kills.
Despite a much smaller margin in the third, the Sea Lions still fell to Azusa 22-25. Point Loma was up by five points in the middle of the set, but after a kill by APU's Amy Alkazin, the Cougars quickly began to resurrect themselves. Thanks to a series of kills from Christy Cain, APU took one step ahead of PLNU and won the set.
The Sea Lions had to play a game of catch up during the fourth set. While they battled back and delayed the Cougars from clinching the match, they were unable to prevent it. APU snagged the set and victory with a 25-23 score.
PLNU hit .320 in the first set while holding APU to a meager .037.
The Sea Lion's hitting wasn't drastically different throughout the rest of the match (.286, .216, .265), but they were not as tight as they were when they entered the game.
“We came out with fire, communication, and teamwork and then we lost it as soon as APU picked up their fire,” said sophomore
Natalie Hamill.
APU hit .533 in the second set, with records of .244 and .324 to follow. Whittany Radcliffe had 17 kills with Alkazin following closely with 14.
Point Loma recorded 7 team blocks compared to Azusa Pacific's 9.
The NAIA No. 8-ranked Cougars improved to 23-4, 10-4 GSAC. NAIA No.14-ranked Sea Lions are now 13-10, 7-7 GSAC.
Point Loma will travel to San Diego Christian on Tuesday, Oct 26 for a 7:00 pm game.
