Nov. 9, 2008

San Diego, CA (11/8) - Saturday's GSAC tilt between No. 14-ranked Point Loma Nazarene and No. 6 Azusa Pacific was billed as the NAIA Match of the Week. The five-set thriller lived up to the hype as the Sea Lions downed the Cougars 3-2 (25-20, 23-25, 25-17, 20-25, 15-9).

It was senior night for PLNU's Amanda Bevens, Zoe Beltz, Christy Dueck and Melissa Boer, and they made their last night on their home court count. The Sea Lions tallied an incredible 23.5 blocks, second most by a Point Loma team. Dueck, a senior middle, was in on 16 blocks, breaking the previous PLNU match high of 13 that was achieved three other times.

APU hitters had trouble all night getting anything past the Sea Lion front row, making 33 hitting errors, most of which were kill attempts that were sent right back to the Cougar side of the court and often hit the hardwood. Azusa ended up hitting just .150, a far cry from the .333 percentage the Cougars had when they swept PLNU on October 4th.

Beltz knocked down 17 winners on 29 swings for a .586 percentage, best among the PLNU team that hit .280. Beltz also had 10 total blocks. Boer slammed 10 winners with 18 digs and Bevens contributed 15 assists.

PLNU improves to 17-9 overall, 9-9 GSAC. The Sea Lions really helped themselves out with the win in their quest to earn a berth the NAIA National Tournament. Point Loma plays twice more in the regular season, on Tuesday at San Diego Christian and on Saturday at Westmont.

The Sea Lions sprang back from an early APU lead in the opening set, with a series of runs fueled by serves Boer and Ashley Romberg. They finished the Cougars off 25-20 with a kill from Beltz off a set from Kylie Morel, who supplied 44 assists in the match.
 
The higher ranked APU squad  rebounded in the second, leading for the entire set to top Point Loma 25-23.
 
PLNU did some rebounding of their own though, fending off a small Azusa lead with a three-point run in the third and led the rest of the way. Sheriess Peters, who paced the offense, closed up the third set for the Sea Lions with one of her 19 kills, finishing with Point Loma’s largest margin of victory, 25-17.
 
The two conference foes traded wins again, in a 25-20 fourth set skirmish that easily went to APU and forced a winner-take-all fifth.
 
The Sea Lions dominated the deciding fifth set early taking an 11-3 lead, with six points coming on blocks. The Cougars didn't go down easily thought, temporarily quieting the crowd of nearly 500 by closing the gap to 12-9.

But PLNU regained their composure and claimed the match with three straight points. In her last play in Golden Gymnasium, Dueck closed up the night with a winner assisted by Morel.

It was fitting that the match was so hotly contested. Point Loma Nazarene now leads Azusa Pacific in all-time match ups, 33-32. The Cougars were on a three-game winning streak versus the Sea Lions.
 
Chelsea Daley and Jill Baker led the Cougar offense with 15 kills apiece. Amy Alkazin contributed for the visitors as well, with 11 of the team total 59 winners.
 
Tabitha Henken had seven and Morel had six kills to add up to Point Loma’s 64 total.