Box Score

SAN DIEGO - Things did not get any easier for the Point Loma volleyball team on Saturday at the GNAC-PacWest Crossover Challenge. After facing the No. 13 team in the country and two other GNAC schools receiving votes in the top 25 poll this weekend, the Sea Lions ran into GNAC-favorite and No. 9 ranked Western Washington on Saturday night. PLNU pushed the Vikings to a fifth set but in the end fell 19-25, 25-20, 12-25, 25-17 and 15-13.
 
The win allowed WWU to complete the GNAC-PacWest Crossover Challenge at 3-1 and improve to 7-2. The loss dropped PLNU to 3-5 on the young season.
 
Heather Leavitt had a season-best 21 kills to pace three Sea Lions in double figures. She also added 19 digs for her fourth consecutive double-double. Alyssa Dwyer had 17 kills on just 37 attempts to post a .378 hitting percentage to go along with six blocks and six digs. Christin Fisher led the squad with a season-best 28 digs. Savannah Wedemeyer had 54 assists.
 
Samantha Hutchinson made a match-high 41 digs for the Vikings. Rachel Roeder led three Vikings student-athletes with 19 kills.
 
Point Loma jumped ahead in the match, going up 2-1, after dominating the third set with a 25-12 victory. In the set PLNU had 18 kills and hit .300 while limiting WWU to seven kills and just a .081 hitting percentage.
 
In the fourth set momentum swung back to the Vikings as they doubled up PLNU in hitting percentage (.286 to .143) to win the set 25-17 and push the match to a decisive fifth set.
 
Early in the fifth set both teams traded points until the Vikings hit their surge and took a 12-7 lead. However, PLNU would not yield easily and fought back with five straight points behind three kills from Leavitt to knot the set at 12-12. Then following a WWU timeout, the Vikings had two kills and a block to earn the final three points to win the match.
 
PLNU will look to right the ship in its Pacific West Conference opener against Fresno Pacific at home on Thursday, Sept. 18 at 7:00 p.m.