Box Score

SAN DIEGO - No. 4 BYU-Hawaii came into Golden Gymnasium in one of the most anticipated matches of the season and managed to escape with a 25-15, 25-14, 25-27 and 25-23 win over the Point Loma volleyball team on Saturday, Nov. 9.

The win clinched the 2013 Pacific West Conference title for the Seasiders (23-1, 18-1 PacWest). This is the fifth straight season the Seasiders have won outright or shared the conference regular season title. They also extended their winning streak to 15 matches. The loss drops Point Loma (21-7, 14-4 PacWest) back into a tie with California Baptist in a race for second place in the conference.

The match was truly a tale of two different halves. BYU-Hawaii dominated each of the first two sets to take a 2-0 advantage. The Sea Lions could just not find their footing in those sets as they made a multitude of unforced errors and were hitting just .068.

The third set looked to be going the same way as the first two before it suddenly clicked for the Sea Lions. They trailed 18-10, 21-14, 22-16 and 24-20 in the set but would just not go away.  PLNU scored five straight points behind Kelsey Barker's serve to push the set to extra points. After BYUH knotted the set at 25-25, PLNU got a kill from Alyssa Dwyer and a block from Heather Leavitt to finish off the set 27-25.

The fourth set would follow a similar pattern to the third as Point Loma would again have to make a late comeback to stay alive in the match. This time PLNU was down 23-16 before it scored six straight points to cut the deficit to one point (23-22). The Seasiders would then get kills from Shih Ting Chen and Erica Willes to close out the set 25-23 and win the match.

"Honestly I don't know what triggered it," said Point Loma head coach Sarah Gustin. "We talked about if we were going to lose we were going to do it going all out; people flying on the floor, everyone going all out on defense and the team taking big swings on the ball and not being timid. Some people took it to heart and it sparked everyone, and we were able to fight back and win that set.

"BYU-Hawaii is not a team that gives up runs of points so for us to comeback was huge," Gustin continued. "It was just disappointing that we couldn't do it the entire match."

Chen had a match-high 19 kills to lead BYU-Hawaii. Returning PacWest Player of the Year Ying Chun Chen also added 47 assist.

"They are a very confident team," said Gustin about BYU-Hawaii. "Each person knows their responsibly, and they are very disciplined and do their job well. It is hard to rattle them and they are very disciplined so it is always tough to play against them."

Alyssa Dwyer paced the Sea Lions with 16 kills and .342 hitting percentage. PLNU also got a double-double from Leavitt (11 kills, 23 digs) and 39 assists from Savannah Wedemeyer in the losing effort.

"This match was good for us to learn we have that level of intensity and focus to be able to comeback on a team like this," Gustin explained. "If we can have it from the beginning we have a good chance to win our last two matches, but if we play complacently people will beat us."

The Point Loma volleyball team will have two matches next week to close out its regular season. The Sea Lions will host Hawaii Pacific on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 7:00 p.m. That will be the final home match of the season and will also be Senior Day for three PLNU seniors. The 2013 regular season finale will be at Dixie State on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 11:00 a.m. (PST).