Another strong performance lifted the Sunbirds to their third straight victory in a crucial 3-1 conference win over Hawaii Pacific (23-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-22). Rupia Inck led the way for the Sunbirds with 20 kills (.383) and Jessie Alcorn (.286) and Morghan Williams (.296) both added double-digit kills in the win.

The Sunbirds (9-5, 4-3 PacWest) continued their hot offensive play at home hitting .313 as a team, their third-highest attack percentage of the season. No Sunbird hit negative for FPU and freshman setter Bissie DenHartog dished out 48 assists to five different Sunbirds. Sophomore Rebecca Waller finished with nine kills on .444 hitting to lead the Sunbirds in hitting percentage.

"We had a good night tonight. Hawaii Pacific is a great team and they wouldn't go away, because we would get a lead and they would come right back and hang in there," said head coach Kelly Winter. "I am really pleased with the fact that our team just didn't back away all match. Give credit to Hawaii Pacific, they made it tough for us."

A big reason for the offensive production was the continued high-caliber play of the defense, which held one of the top offenses in the conference to a .186 attack percentage. Sophomore libero Hannah Butler finished with 24 digs and Lyndsie Petersen finished in double-digits with 12. For the second straight match the Sunbirds were able to control the front line out-blocking Hawaii Pacific 5-3 in the match, including a crucial block to set up match point at 24-21 in the fourth set by Waller and Inck.

"We had some really long rallies, it wasn't just our libero doing the job but Lyndsie Petersen and Jessie Alcorn did a nice job as well. Toni had some crucial digs tonight in hitting out of the back row," said Winter. "We also got some great blocking from Rupia and Becca, even if it wasn't a point everytime we were able to keep them out of system."

The one unfavorable stat for the Sunbirds was the in service game where FPU committed a season-high 11 service errors, including four in a set one loss. Seven receiving errors also got past the Sunbirds, a stat that head coach Kelly Winter wants to see cleaned up.

Hawaii Pacific (11-4, 5-2 PacWest) got a big night from Pomai Recca (.300) with 18 kills, but 26 Seawarrior attack errors hindered the HPU offense. Samantha Rummans added 11 kills but eight attack errors kept her hitting to just .070. Recca and libero Chelsey Boyuan combined for 38 digs in the match as Recca recorded a double-double for the Seawarriors. 

Fresno Pacific will be back at home on Monday playing host to the #6 team in the nation BYU-Hawaii. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the FPU Events Center.