SAN DIEGO - The Point Loma volleyball team remained perfect at home as it swept PacWest-leader Hawaii Pacific 25-21, 25-17 and 25-18 on Monday, Oct. 5.
 
The Sea Lions (8-6, 3-3 PacWest) are now 7-0 in the friendly confines of Golden Gymnasium. This was the first PacWest loss of the season for Hawaii Pacific (10-4, 5-1 PacWest) who came into the match as one of only two team unbeaten in PacWest play (BYU-Hawaii being the other).
 
Point Loma posted one of its most efficient offensive outings en route to earning the victory. PLNU hit at least .295 in each set and never trailed HPU after the five-point mark in any of the three sets. The Sea Lions started the match on fire by hitting .380 in the first set with 21 kills amongst their 25 points.
 
"The impressive thing for me tonight was the 21 kills in the first set," said Point Loma head coach Jonathan Scott. "We have hit the 20 mark a few times but to get past that 20 mark is very impressive and we were able to do it during the first set with only two hitting errors. It also happened to be the closest set, so we needed every one of them."
 
Heather Leavitt paced the team with 17 kills with just three errors on 37 attempts. She also added 10 digs for her 10th double-double of the season. Bethany Mandon added nine kills and Bree Vieth posted eight kills without an error for a .421 hitting percentage. Christin Fisher added a team-leading 17 digs and Savannah Wedemeyer boosted her assist average with 44 helpers in just three sets.
 
"It is sort of the chicken and the egg thing (with our hitters)," said Scott. "If our outside hitters are going hard it really opens things up for our middles, and if our middles are going well it opens up things for the outsides. It is pretty common when one or two are doing well everyone gets put in better situations and has better numbers because of it."
 
Hawaii Pacific never seemed to find their rhythm and the Sea Lions jumped on them early in all three sets to pick up the victory. Pomai Recca led the team with 17 kills but she was the only Shark with over eight finishers.
 
"This was Hawaii Pacific's first match after a long flight and it was a weird vibe with the Monday match," Scott explained. "There were some other factors going into this match and we were fortunate to get the momentum first.
 
"We talk about momentum a lot and when it is on your side it is as good as it gets, but when it is against you it can be as bad as it gets," continued Scott. "Being able to manage momentum is a tough thing."
 
Point Loma will hope to create its own momentum from the win as this was the first match in a six-match homestand for the Sea Lions.
 
"This is a really big week for the entire conference," added Scott. "The Hawaii schools are coming to the Southern California and Dixie pods, and all we can do is worry about the next one. We were fortunate tonight but now we have to figure out how to beat a very good BYU-Hawaii team."
 
Their next contest will be Thursday, Oct. 8 against defending PacWest Champions, BYU-Hawaii. It will also be the first Point Loma Power Night to celebrate the women of PLNU. The match will start at 7:00 p.m. with Power Night activities start prior to tipoff.