AZUSA, Calif. – The Sea Lions are perfect in the PacWest no more. After entering the match 3-0 in conference play, just like Azusa Pacific, something had to give on Saturday, and unfortunately, for the Green & Gold faithful, it was PLNU.
 
The Cougars did not miss a beat all match en route to the 25-11, 25-15 and 25-14 win. They hit .444 as a team with three student-athletes posting double-figures in kills. Aliyah Morrison led the team with an .800 hitting percentage. She had 12 kills and no errors in 15 swings.
 
Rachael Schlect paced PLNU with nine kills. Cara Keturakis added 23 assists and Celeste Friesen had 10 digs.
 
Team Records
PLNU (6-5, 3-1 PacWest), Azusa Pacific (8-4, 4-0 PacWest)

Turning Point
Down 21-15 in set one, the Sea Lions rallied back to within one point, down 23-22. On a broken play, Cara Keturakis dug a well placed attack from Biola and on high set from Ashlynn Fresques, Rachael Schlect put down a huge kill that helped power the Sea Lions to the set victory and kept the momentum in the Sea Lions favor.

Words from Coach Scott
On Azusa Pacific: "APU came with the right mindset into this match. They were aggressive and believed in themselves. They took it to us and we were not willing to engage."
 
On what PLNU needs to learn from this match: 'We need to have more mental toughness. There was almost none of that today."
 
On upcoming match against Chaminade: "That is going to be a big task. This match hurt a lot so I am hoping we can learn from it and not get stuck in the 'pain of it.' We have to worry about our next match."
 
Scoring Summary
Set 1: APU 25, PLNU 11
Set 2: APU 25, PLNU 15
Set 3: APU 25, PLNU 14

News and Notes. 
> The loss snaps PLNU's five-match winning streak

Up Next
The team returns home on Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. when they host Chaminade.