FRESNO, Calif. - The Sea Lions lost in three sets to NAIA No. 1-ranked Fresno Pacific Saturday afternoon (25-21, 25-23, 25-14). PLNU falls to 7-4 overall, 1-1 GSAC while FPU, which stretched its win streak to 51 matches, improves to 10-0, 2-0 GSAC.

The first two sets were close to the end, FPU holding off the Sea Lions in the opener and overtaking PLNU midway through the second. Point Loma nearly caught the Sunbirds, closing to 24-23, but Keke Wang notched her third consecutive kill for FPU to end the second set. The Green and Gold hit -.032, making more errors than kills in the third.

The Sea Lions were limited to a .171 hitting percentage while the Sunbirds hit .337 as a team.  Fresno Pacific's defense pulled out 44 digs in the match compared to 35 from Point Loma and the Sunbirds and a 7-6 team block advantage.

Freshman Alyssa Dwyer led the Sea Lion offense, hammering 10 kills and taking part in two blocks.

"Tonight I had a lot of trust in my setters so I was ready every time to kill the ball," said Dwyer. "As a whole, I think the team did very well. We will move past this loss."

Alyssa Pitkin had eight winners in the loss with Tabitha Henken and Karleigh Kaczmarek each adding six kills. Aimee Bird assisted on 21 PLNU points with Natalie Hamill helping with 12 assists. Nicole Eiler had a team-best 16 digs.

"After playing so great last weekend and winning four straight games, it is hard to take a loss when we are playing so competitively as a whole," said Eiler.  "The game tonight didn't go the way we wanted it to, but we will be ready when they come to our house."

Lisa Schilling and Martina Gregusova each contributed 10 kills to lead FPU. The Sunbirds utilized two setters, Erica Adachi and Emily Carroll, who had 22 and 19 assists respectively.  Wang and Mariah Mendelbaum had 15 digs apiece.

The going doesn't get easier for PLNU when they return to Golden Gymnasium for a GSAC match against No. 3-ranked California Baptist at 7:00 pm.

"We will definitely have to put up a fight against the Lancers, but we believe in ourselves and how well we've prepared for this season," Hamill said.