Azusa, Calif. - #12 Fresno Pacific suffered a three-set road loss to Azusa Pacific on Saturday (25-18, 25-20, 25-23), the first time the Sunbirds have been swept by APU since 1991. The Sunbirds (6-3, 1-1 PacWest) have traditionally dominated the rivalry with the Cougars (8-2, 1-0 PacWest), holding an all-time record of 62-12, the best record against any APU program in any sport.

Saturday was a different story however as the Cougars stifled the Sunbird attack, holding them to a .185 attack percentage, while overwhelming the Sunbird defense by hitting .296. Four APU players finished with 10 or more kills, led by Mattie Shelford's 12 kills on .526 hitting.

APU hit .452 in the first set, a 25-18 win, and controlled the second set as well. In the third set FPU battled back from an 11-5 deficit to take a 16-14 lead, but in the end the Cougars would hang on for the victory.

Morghan Williams led FPU with 12 kills. Hannah Butler had 16 digs, but the Cougars did a good job of diverting their attack away from the Sunbirds' star libero. Bissie DenHartog posted a double-double of 18 assists and 11 digs, and Chelsea Speaks added 14 assists in the loss. FPU struggled defensively and had just two blocks on the day.

"Our youth got the better of us," said FPU head coach Kelly Winter. "They did a good job of exposing some of our weaknesses and we didn't step up. It comes down to defense and putting balls away. We didn't do either of those well today."

FPU is back on the road next Wednesday to take on another PacWest rival, traveling to Riverside to face Cal Baptist.