SAN DIEGO - Cara Keturakis had a match for the ages  and the Point Loma volleyball team pulled off a five-set victory over Azusa Pacific, 25-22, 25-21, 21-25, 20-25 and 15-8, on Saturday, Sept. 17.
 
This was the first PacWest victory of the season for PLNU who moved to 3-7 on the season (1-1 PacWest). The loss drops APU to 4-6 this year (0-1 PacWest).
 
Keturakis had 12 kills, 47 assists and 21 digs to record the first triple-double for the Sea Lions since Oct. 14, 1993. She hit .455 in the match with just two errors in 22 attempts. The 12 kills and 21 digs are both career-highs for the freshman setter from Surrey, B.C., Canada.
 
"Cara has had a few good matches but this was her 'welcome to college' moment," said PLNU head coach Jonathan Scott. "That is an exceptional stat line as a setter with her offense as an individual, and with the offense she ran for the team."
 
Keturakis was on point with her passes all match long as she was joined in double-figure kills by Brianna Sizemore (16), Ashlynn Fresques (14) and Marissa Hageman (12). Hageman hit even better than Keturakis in the match. She had 12 kills with just one error in 23 attempts for a .478 hitting percentage. She also added five blocks.  The Sea Lions hit .281 in the match compared to a .224 mark for the Cougars.
 
The Sea Lions won the first two sets before dropping sets 3 and 4 to send the match to a decisive fifth set. After it was tied at 4-4 in the fifth set, PLNU went on a 7-2 run to take control. They then closed out the match on a 4-0 run for their first PacWest win and first five-set victory.
 
"We were very motivated going into this match," Scott explained. "It didn't have anything to do with who the opponent was, because most of our women have never played Azusa and don't know what the rivalry is all about, we were motivated because we had a very sour taste in our mouths from last night against Dixie State. We weren't alright with that and the girls did something about it today.
 
"We definitely didn't want to lose the third or fourth set, but I am glad that we were able to pull that out in the fifth because we haven't been having long matches," Scott contiued. "It was nice to stay in it for a really long time and show our grit by coming back."
 
Point Loma will be back on the court at Golden Gym on Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. in a non-conference contest against Cal State San Marcos.
 
"We have now noticed a trend that we win the last match of the week but lose all the rest, so we are going to look at our practice schedule and figure out how to win on Tuesday," he added.