Box Score

SAN DIEGO - The Point Loma volleyball team quickly turned the page on their non-conference portion of their schedule as they opened Pacific West Conference play with a critical four-set victory over Fresno Pacific (25-23, 18-25, 27-25 and 25-23) on Thursday, Sept. 18.
 
Every member of the Sea Lions (4-5, 1-0 PacWest) looked excited for the opening of PacWest play and the opportunity to get back to seeing familiar foes. The recognizable jersey also seemed to spark PLNU junior outside hitter Heather Leavitt who put up her best match of the season in the victory over FPU (6-4, 0-1 PacWest).
 
Leavitt led all scorers with 24 kills, and also added 13 digs for a double-double. She hit .283 in the match with 60 attempts. The 24 kills were a season-best, and the second straight match she has posted 20 or more kills.
 
"We are starting to realize the levels she can hit so now it is just a matter of whether that can continue as other teams realize it," said PLNU head coach Jonathan Scott about Leavitt.
 
Savannah Wedemeyer handed out 50 assists in the four sets, while also adding three service aces and eight digs. Christin Fisher paced the squad with 19 digs and Briana Vieth just missed a double-double of her own with 12 kills and nine digs.
 
The four-set victory does not tell the tale of how close the battle was as Fresno Pacific outscored PLNU in the match 96-95. The match featured 44 tie scores and 19 lead changes. Just in the third set there were six lead changes and 17 tied scores, but PLNU found a way to come from behind and take the set and the 2-1 match advantage.
 
In the fourth set, Point Loma again found itself down late (22-21) before scoring three straight points to take the lead and eventually finish off the Sunbirds on a crosscourt kill by Leavitt.
 
"We were a very mentally prepared team for this match," Scott noted. "We were able to execute at the end to get the win."
 
Kathleen Anderson led FPU with 14 kills. Rupia Inck also had 11 for the Sunbirds but the PLNU defense held this PacWest preseason all-conference selection to just a .070 hitting percentage with eight errors.
 
This was big victory for PLNU not just in the conference standings but also for pursuit of the team's season goals.
 
"Now that we are in conference we are able to settle into a routine and have some battles with some old foes," said Scott. "The Point Loma and Fresno Pacific matches are always big ones.
 
"We obviously did not get off to the start we wanted (this season) to but we did a lot of great things in some of those losses so we are continuing to build off those," Scott explained.
 
The Sea Lions may have seen some of the fruits of that labor tonight as they posted their best hitting percentage in five matches.
 
PLNU will look to build on the momentum from tonight when it hosts Holy Names on Saturday, Sept. 20 at 5:00 p.m.