Box Score
Fresno Pacific showed no signs of slowing down on Friday night, using a balanced attack and a suffocating defense to cruise past Point Loma Nazarene in straight sets (25-19, 25-16, 25-17) and advance to the national semifinals.
In the third meeting this season between the two GSAC schools, the Sea Lions still had no answer for a balanced FPU attack, while the Sunbirds once again shut down PLNU's biggest weapon: NAIA kills leader Tabitha Henken.
The win earns FPU a rematch with #2 Texas-Brownsville, the team that snapped the Sunbirds' 91-match regular season winning streak back in October.
"We played really well tonight against a very good Point Loma team," said Sunbirds coach Dennis Janzen. "Having an opportunity to compete in a final four is always a special thing."
Offensively the Sunbirds put together a complete team-effort, getting contributions from every position. Martina Gregusova led the way with 16 kills and Keke Wang added 10 with zero errors as the Sunbirds finished with a .412 attack percentage.
On defense the team did a phenomenal job containing Henken, who had amassed 95 kills in the tournament's first four matches, holding her to only six kills on an .069 hitting percentage. Mariah Mandelbaum finished with 11 digs and the FPU blocking team, led by Kathleen Anderson's five blocks, knew where Henken was at all times.
Erica Adachi contributed all over the court, facilitating the offense with 36 assists, but also playing a major role as an attacker (6 kills), a blocker (4 blocks) and a defensive specialist (5 digs).
The Sunbirds looked poised and determined from the start, using a 9-2 run in the first set to go up 16-9. The Sea Lions would call a timeout to regroup, and follow with two kills, but the following PLNU serve was well-read by Mandelbaum, who allowed it drop just over the line for an error.
The Sea Lions would climb back into it, trimming the deficit to four at 22-18 after a block of Gregusova. The Sunbirds went right back to Gregusova though, who delivered a devastating kill. Two Sea Lion errors would end the set.
The Sunbird defense would become more dominant in set two, causing nine PLNU attack errors after just two in the first set and holding the Sea Lions to an .086 attack percentage. The offense was just as good, hitting .480 without a single error.
After a back and forth start, the Sunbirds led 10-8 before putting together four consecutive points fueled by two kills from Gregusova. The Sea Lions called timeout and tried to get Henken going, but after a kill by the Sea Lion outside hitter made it 15-10 the Sunbirds would respond with two more points. Wang helped put the set away minutes later with a kill and a block assist with Anderson for the 25-16 win.
The Sunbirds would continue to roll in the third set, putting the Sea Lions behind quickly with a 9-3 lead. Highlights of the third set included a rare set by Shilling for a kill by Adachi and some quality serving by Karah Mitchell late in the set.
Gregusova put the exclamation point on the win with two powerful kills to end it. FPU held the Sea Lions to an .087 percentage with just seven total kills in the set. Alyssa Dwyer led PLNU with nine kills on the night as the Sea Lions end the season with a record of 22-13.
While the day began with all six GSAC teams alive, only Fresno Pacific remains in the final four. There were four GSAC teams in the final eight, but #5 Cal Baptist blew a 2-1 lead and lost five sets to #4 Columbia. #7 Biola was also eliminated, being swept by #2 Texas-Brownsville.
That Texas-Brownsville team now becomes the main focus for the Sunbirds. The Scorpions defeated FPU in five sets in Irvine earlier this season and the Sunbirds have been eager for a rematch ever since. That match is set to begin at 12:30 central (10:30 am pacific) and can be watched live on watchnaia.com.
Should the Sunbirds win they will the winner of #1 Lee and #4 Columbia in the championship match at 8 pm (6 pm pst). Check back late tonight for a full preview of tomorrow's action.
