A strong opening set set the tone for PLNU Volleyball in a three-set sweep (25-15, 25-19, 25-18) over Holy Names inside Golden Gym Thursday on Dig Pink Night.
"The first set was super clean, which is really the best recipe of beating a team like that," Head Coach
Jonathan Scott said. "They play a really clean brand of volleyball. They don't make a lot of mistakes and they keep the ball alive with a great defense, so we've got to play that style to keep the control and we did that in the first set."
Point Loma hit .385 as a team in the first set, with
Abigail Nua (14 kills) and
Claire Smith (10 kills) serving as primary examples of PLNU's efficient offensive attack, hitting .310 and .409 respectively on the night.
"Offensively they were pretty spectacular tonight," Scott said of Nua and Smith. "It was that low error, high efficiency type game. These two were really good at that tonight.
"Volleyball is a weird game where sometimes the matchups require a slightly different style of play. When they had the ball in their hand, that was the best thing for us tonight."
Nua was instrumental in a pair of 5-0 runs during the opening set, serving during the first one and tallying three-straight kills as part of the second one.
Then in the second set on Nua's serve, Smith recorded two kills to spark a 6-0 Sea Lion streak that put Point Loma ahead 11-5. As Holy Names attempted to mount a comeback at 16-15, it was Nua's kill that stopped the Hawks' momentum. Smith kills then scored two of PLNU's final four points of the set to help put the visitors on the brink.
As Holy Names threatened to force a fourth set, leading 12-10 in the third, kills from Nua and Smith out of a Point Loma timeout shifted the tide in PLNU's favor. With the set tied at 16 apiece, back-to-back kills from
Anna Massari and her combined block with Smith fueled a 5-0 streak that gave the Sea Lions a commanding lead. A pair of Nua kills then helped Point Loma seal the deal, with PLNU scoring the final four points of the match.
Nua also led the defense with 16 digs, while Massari's five blocks paced the team.
Lauren Phillips (21 assists, 13 digs) and
Maggie Wolf (16 assists) orchestrated PLNU's efficient offense on the night.
Point Loma (17-6 overall, 12-3 PacWest), in second place in the PacWest standings, returns to Golden Gym on Friday for a 6 p.m. conference matchup with Dominican.
"Just staying in the moment," Scott said of the team's mentality approaching the final couple weeks of the regular season. "We'll enjoy this one tonight but wake up and only be focused on Dominican."
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