SAN DIEGO-Despite digging out of a 0-2 hole, the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds came up just short in their bid for a reverse sweep of the Point Loma Sea Lions, falling 3-2 Saturday afternoon at Golden Gymnasium.

The Sunbirds led the middle of the first set but couldn't grab set point. Point Loma ended up claiming the first set on a rotation error that was called on FPU in extra points giving the Sea Lions the 1-0 lead, 27-25.

Fresno Pacific struggled in the second set, registering just 10 total kills in the frame as Point Loma extended their advantage to 2-0 with a 25-21 2^nd set.
Down 2-0, FPU found its identity. The Sunbird offense hit .368 with 17 kills in the third and the defense earned side out 80% of the time to pick up their first game of the day.

Chloe Melis, Cambria Waites, Madison Girnius, and Kaiessa Sounart each had three kills in a monster performance for the Sunbirds. But it was Makena Ogas leading the way with 4 kills on just 7 attempts as FPU dropped Point Loma 25-14 in the third.

The Sunbirds duplicated the effort on six fewer attempts in the fourth. Anastassiya Barakhoyeva's service run staked FPU to a 7-0 lead. McKenna Hughes piled on to stretch the Sunbirds lead to 18-4.

Corinne Acosta was influential in the frame, delivering 5 of FPU's 17 kills.

But the Sunbirds couldn't maintain the momentum in the 5^th as Point Loma held onto their lead and 2^nd place in the PacWest.

In all, the Sunbirds outhit the Sea Lions, delivering more kills and fewer errors. Fresno Pacific's balanced attack saw six players tally at least 7 kills with Ogas finishing with a team-high 16. Acosta was the other Sunbird in double-figures, finishing with 13.

Point Loma did hold an edge with service aces and somewhat neutralized FPU's 16 blocks with 14 of their own.

Fresno Pacific will have its chance to gain back ground as it closes out the season with three home matches this week against the Hawai'i schools.

The homestand begins on Monday night when Hawai'i Pacific visits the Special Events Center at 6 p.m.