The No. 7-ranked Sea Lions suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of NAIA No. 1 Fresno Pacific University in four sets Saturday (25-22, 28-26, 25-19 and 25-17). PLNU fell to 11-1 and 1-1 in the Golden State Athletic Conference. The Sunbirds remained undefeated, improving to 12-0 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
 
FPU dominated the net, using their height advantage for 15 blocks. Despite the Sea Lions taking 26 more swings than the Sunbirds, Fresno terminated more balls for 55 kills for a .241 average. PLNU hit .126 and had 47 kills.
 
“We need to be more consistent in our execution,” said PLNU head coach Rochelle Short. “We need to terminate more balls … have a quicker tempo and set our middles more.”
 
The young PLNU squad kept pace with the top nationally ranked team for the first two sets. In the opener the Sea Lions matched the Sunbirds all the way to 15-15. PLNU then behind, and, despite holding FPU at set point for two points, were only able to get to 22 before a setting error gave the visiting team the side out victory.
 
PLNU setter Kylie Morel emphasized the need for consistency as well.
 
“We normally have four new people on the court at any given time,” Morel said. “We need to aim for consistency. That's what's going to make us able to beat these teams. I really think every game could have gone our way.”
 
The Sea Lions didn't start the second set out with consistency, as the Sunbirds jumped out to an early 6-1 lead. But PLNU battled back, eventually catching FPU at 14-14 and taking the lead for the first time in the set on the next point with a kill from Stacie Redmond.
 
Point Loma led by as much as 22-17 before the Sunbirds overcame them at 23-22 to resume the lead. A kill and an ace from Chelsea Joanou brought the Sea Lions to the first of three set points at 24-23, but FPU forced the Sea Lions to win 28-26, with a kill from Maddie Dahms to close the set out.
 
The team was unable to maintain its momentum in the third and fourth sets, losing by six and eight points, respectively. Short was not satisfied with the moral victory of hanging tough with the defending national champions.
 
“We came into this expecting to come out on top,” Short said. “Even with our young group we're not far behind.”
 
GSAC Player of the Week Tabitha Henken led PLNU on offense with 17 kills, followed by Alyssa Pitkin with 10 and Maddie Dahms with eight. Morel contributed 39 assists and 14 digs and Nicole Eiler had 21 digs.
 
For the Sunbirds, Martina Gregusova led on her side of the net with 13 winners (14 digs), followed by Michelle Johnson, Ke Ke Wang and Tiffany Marinos with 10 apiece. Erika Adachi added 23 assists and 11 digs and Emily Carroll had 19 assists. Libero Mariah Mendelbaum helped on defense with 20 digs.
 
The Sea Lions take on more top NAIA teams in their next conference games, traveling to Riverside to take on No. 3-ranked Cal Baptist Tuesday and hosting No. 10 Azusa Pacific Saturday.

-Nathan Scharn