Box Score Point Loma def. Fresno Pacific 3-1 (25-23, 18-25, 27-25, 25-23)SAN DIEGO - FPU began PacWest play on Thursday night, dropping a nail-biter on the road against the league's preseason favorite. The Sunbirds (6-4, 0-1 PacWest) dominated set two and scored more points overall in the match but came out on the losing end of three sets that went down to the wire.
The turning point of the match came in set three, where the Sunbirds had two chances to put the Sea Lions away and take a 2-1 lead, up 24-23 and again 25-24. The Sea Lions (4-5, 1-0 PacWest) would prevail on their home court however behind a match-high 24 kills from outside hitter Heather Levitt.
"She put together a dominant performance and was the difference-maker tonight," said head coach
Kelly Winter. "They're a very talented team. Their setter did a nice job of distributing the ball and they ran a quick offense that we needed to do a better job countering."
"We'll use this as a learning tool and come back better for it," said Winter. "This is the beginning of a long conference schedule and we can expect to be in a lot of matches like this. The difference between winning and losing in the PacWest is going to be very slim this year. Tonight was a match that we, in many ways, should have won. We just need to shore up a couple little things and be ready for another tough match tomorrow."
FPU got 14 kills from
Kathleen Anderson and 11 from
Rupia Inck.
Hannah Butler led four Sunbirds in double figure digs with 19.
Bissie DenHartog dished out 29 assists and Anderson and
Morghan Williams each had five blocks.
Chelsea Speaks had 13 digs on the night, putting together a solid performance while playing in her hometown. Inck added 10 digs and
Gabriela Macedo had 10 digs and seven kills.
The schedule doesn't get any easier for the Sunbirds, who take on rival Cal Baptist tomorrow night in Riverside.
