BOX SCORE
AZUSA, Calif. — The Sea Lions and Azusa Pacific tangoed for five close sets on Saturday, but in the end it was the seventh-ranked Cougars coming out on top, claiming a 3-2 victory over PLNU (25-19, 19-25, 25-19, 20-25, 15-12).
APU took the first set 25-19, leading nearly from start to finish. The two GSAC rivals then swapped scores with the Sea Lions leading by as much as eight points before taking the second (25-19). The third set was much closer as APU inched Point Loma out by just two points, 25-23. The set was a toss up to the finish, but the Cougars snapped a 23-23 tie by winning the final two points.
The Sea Lions retaliated by tying the match by beating the Cougars 25-20 in the fourth, to set up a deciding fifth.
The start of the fifth was rough for Point Loma, as they allowed APU to score four consecutive unanswered points. With the work of junior outside hitter
Tabitha Henken and freshman middle blocker
Alyssa Dwyer, the Sea Lions were able to get back into the game, evening the score and even taking the lead twice.
In the end, however, APU won the match after closing out the fifth on a 5-2 run, beating the Sea Lions 15-12.
The two teams had very close numbers. PLNU outhit APU .278 to .260 but the Cougars had advantages in digs (56-52) and blocks (12-7). Both teams had five service aces though the Sea Lions had nine service errors, five more than APU.
Point Loma (7-6, 1-3 GSAC) was led offensively by Henken who put up a match-high 26 kills and Dwyer who contributed 15 on 25 attacks. Sophomores
Maddie Dahms and
Karleigh Kaczmarek added 10 winners apiece. Junior
Aimee Bird recorded 14 digs and 27 assists, while sophomore
Natalie Hamill gave 31 assists. Sophomore
Nicole Eiler led the team with 18 digs.
Whitney Radcliffe paced the Cougars with 23 kills with Amy Alkazin and Jackie Landers contributing 13-10 apiece.
Azusa Pacific (15-1, 3-1 GSAC)
The Sea Lions will host San Diego Christian in the Golden Gym on Tuesday, Sept. 21 at 7:00 pm.
