(HONOLULU) The battle between the last two PacWest champions lived up to the hype, as No. 5 PLNU Volleyball outlasted Chaminade in a five-set thriller (25-23, 15-25, 25-19, 21-25, 15-10) on Saturday night.
Point Loma (18-2 overall, 7-0 PacWest) won sets one, three and five to move atop the conference standings, a half-game ahead of Fresno Pacific (18-0, 6-0) who also has yet to lose in PacWest play.
Trailing 3-4 in the first set, PLNU scored the next seven points, with a pair of kills each from
Saren Rogers and
Jill Leslie, before
Abigail Nua closed out the opening stanza.
Chaminade responded in set two, only for Point Loma to finish set three on a 5-0 run to retake the lead. Nua and
Kate Sullivan combined for a block to put the Sea Lions up 18-17 in the set, a lead the visitors wouldn't relinquish on their way to putting the hosts on the brink.
The Silverswords then surged late in set four to force a deciding fifth set, which CUH led early by a 4-2 margin and as late as 7-6.
With the final stanza tied at 8-8, PLNU scored five-straight points to take a commanding lead, which was finalized by
Hailey Clark's kill that continued the Sea Lions' unbeaten start to PacWest play.
Nua led all players with 20 kills, while
Kyra Miles had 13 and Leslie added 8 of her own.
Sophia Baugh (18 digs) dished out 44 assists, as she was one of four Sea Lions with double-digit digs along with
Macy Reynolds (23), Nua (11) and
Kira Federico (10).
Point Loma (18-2 overall, 7-0 PacWest) continues its six-match road trip on Thursday at Vanguard in a non-conference match. First serve in Costa Mesa is scheduled for 7 p.m.
POSTMATCH INTERVIEW
