SANTA BARBARA, Calif.- The Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (4-5 overall, 1-0 PacWest) opened conference play by acing and blocking their way to a four-set road win over the Westmont Warriors (3-5 overall, 0-1 PacWest)  Thursday night at Murchison Gymnasium.

"I am proud of the work our team has put in this past week to be ready for our conference opener," head coach Mike MacNeill said after the win. "Westmont came out and put up a fight with the support of a great student section."
 
In the first set, both teams fought back and forth before the Sunbirds established a three point lead at 17-14 after three straight errors. 
 
The Warriors battled back within one before the 'Birds put up back-to-back kills by Corrine Acosta and Mia Gilcrest to reset the three point lead at 21-18.
 
After a timeout, the Warriors managed to close the gap to two until the Sunbirds put up three straight points off that included a kill by Geneva Elliott, and a service ace by Catie Speas to win the set 25-20.

With the score knotted 15-15 in the second, the Warriors went on a run winning five out of the six following points to give themselves set point. 
 
But the Sunbirds fought off five straight set points with an attacking error by the Warriors, three kills from Makena Ogas, and a service ace by Acosta. 
 
The Warriors finally recorded the kill to win the set 25-22. 
 
"We were able to remain calm and confident in the face of adversity tonight," MacNeill added. It was evident in how we were able to serve in tough moments tonight."

The third set was the most tightly contested with the set tied 13 separate times and five lead changes. 
 
With the score at 21-20, the Sunbirds fought for five straight points to win the set 25-20. The points came off a combo block from Elliott and Claire Corippo and kills from Ogas and Elliot.
 
From there, the fourth set was all Sunbirds.

FPU pulled away with four-point lead after kills from Madison Girnius and a block from Corippo and Girnius.
 
The Sunbirds ended up winning the set 25-21 to secure the match in four sets.

Fresno Pacific's 18 blocks were the second most this season with Elliott's 7 block assists leading the way.
 
The Sunbirds also finished the match with a season-high 12 service aces that proved pivotal with Rachel Plantinga leading the recording four. 

"Individually, we had huge performances from Corinne with three aces in key situations," MacNeill said of his senior outside. "Rachel served tough with four aces on the night."
 
It was an overall strong performance offensively for the Birds with the .250 attack percentage being the second highest of the season.
 
Super senior Makena Ogas led the team and had a season high 12 kills while adding four blocks for the 'Birds.

"Its great to see this team compete at their best again tonight," MacNeill concluded.
 
Fresno Pacific continues on a SoCal PacWest swing by traveling to La Mirad to take on Biola Saturday at 1pm. 

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