Riverside, Calif. - The Golden Eagles pulled out a nail-biter tonight, by defeating Providence Christian College, 3-2 (25-18, 25-14, 19-25, 18-25, 16-14), to stay unbeaten in conference play. The Golden Eagles are currently one of three teams who have yet to drop a Cal Pac match in the early going of the conference schedule. Embry-Riddle and Benedictine University are both 4-0 thus far.
Saturday night's match proved to be more than the Golden Eagles bargained for. After taking the first two sets, La Sierra found themselves on their heels for the next two sets. The Seabeggars played much more relaxed and aggressive in Sets 3&4 and put themselves in prime position to pull off the upset, on the Golden Eagles home court.
With the match tied at two sets apiece, the two teams jockeyed for any advantage they could get in the deciding set. With the score all square at 3-3 in the early going of Set 5, The Golden Eagles used a 5-2 run to extend to an 8-4 lead as the two teams switched sides. But the Seabeggars battled back and scored eight unanswered points to take control of the set, 12-8.
But just like the back-and-forth match had evolved, the Golden Eagles rattled five straight points of their own to regain the lead 13-12. The Seabeggars fought back to tie the score on two more occasions but they would never lead again as the Golden Eagles pulled it out with a 16-14 victory to escape the upset.
La Sierra was carried by their outside hitters through the match. Freshmen Kiana Krumm finished with 18 kills, while Michele Mendizabal contributed 16 kills and Kiana Velasco added 10 kills in the win.
On the defensive side, La Sierra had a total of five players who finished in double-figures in digs. The libero Emily Morgan led the way with 25, followed by Krumm with 17, Mendizabal with 14, Marissa Fregoso with 13, and Smriti Sharma with 12.
Splitting the setting responsibilities were Fregoso and Sharma who guided the offense with 29 assists and 19 assists, respectively.
The Golden Eagles also tallied 10 serviced aces on the night, with Morgan leading the way with four aces.
It will be a quick turnaround for the women's volleyball team as they will host a tournament tomorrow where they will play two non-conference matches. The Golden Eagles will open up with a match versus UC Santa Cruz (10am) followed by a match against Chapman University (230pm).
