SAN DIEGO---The white-hot start and white-clad crowd cooled over the final three sets as the Point Loma Sea Lions (10-7 overall, 6-3 PacWest) fell in four sets to the visiting Azusa Pacific Cougars (13-4 overall, 8-1 PacWest) Friday night inside of Golden Gym.

Point Loma hit an ultra-efficient .367 in the opening set with 11 errorless kills, but struggled to maintain momentum over the final three sets.

"The start was great." Point Loma Head Coach Jonathan Scott said. "We executed the gameplan nicely. We came out with confidence and a lot of fight."

Point Loma raced out to the early lead with the block providing a pair of points in a 5-0 start, forcing an APU timeout.

The Cougars cut into the deficit but Point Loma maintained the advantage out to 10-6.

From there, Alexis Soncrant and Torina Hommes propelled the Sea Lion offense to what would be a 22-19 lead. Anna Massari registered a kill to get side out before Courtney Dyer delivered a pair of aces to close out the set 25-19.

Azusa Pacific jumped out to an early lead in set two, taking a 3-0 lead. Point Loma would tie it at four and the teams exchanged points to six, before APU gained the advantage again. The Cougars scored six of the next seven points to take a 12-7 lead.

After PLNU cut the deficit to two, APU scored five of the next six points. Rachel Schlect registered a couple of kills as Point Loma fought to stay in it, ultimately falling 25-21 to tie the match at a set apiece.

APU would maintain momentum, scoring ten of the first twelve points in the third set. The Cougars lead was 12-5 before another APU run that stretched the difference to 20-7. PLNU scored a couple of late points but fell 25-11 in set three.

The Cougars held the advantage for the start of the third match leading 15-10. Soncrant registered a pair of points as PLNU pulled with three, but APU scored five straight points to extend their advantage to eight.

Point Loma cut the deficit to six but APU closed out the match 25-17.

"APU played a really clean brand of volleyball, they deserved this one." Scott commented.

Soncrant led Point Loma with ten kills and hit .261 while Torina Hommes added 9.

Point Loma will hit the road for a pair of matches in Northern California next weekend before returning home to Golden Gym on October 27^th for Dig Pink Night.