Riverside, Calif. - The women's volleyball team won pushed their winning streak to six matches in a 3-1 (25-14, 17-25, 25-20, 25-14) victory over Pacific Union College. The Golden Eagles also improved to 2-0 in conference play with the win. The team joins Embry-Riddle University as the only two teams to start the Cal Pac season with two wins.
La Sierra jumped out to the early lead in Set 1 with a dominating 25-14 win. They never trailed in the set and at one point led by as many as 13 points (20-7). As a team, the Golden Eagles set the pace with a stellar .414 attack percentage, by connecting on 15 kills on 29 attempts with only three errors, in the first set.
The Pioneer answered back, however, taking the second set 25-17. With the score tied at 14-14, Pacific Union pulled away with the help of a 6-0 run midway through Set 2. The differential proved too much for the Golden Eagles to overcome as the two teams headed to a third set.
Set 3, which proved to be the most competitive set of the match, went in favor of the Golden Eagles. The set consisted of 10 tie scores and each team holding a share of the lead at some point during Set 3. With the team tied at 10-10, a Pacific Union attack error gave La Sierra as lead they would never relinquish.
Similar to the second set, in Set 4 the Pioneers came out determined to send the match to a fifth set. They quickly jumped out to an early 7-3 lead, but the Golden Eagles used a 7-3 run to quickly turn the tables and knot the score at 10. From that point on it was all La Sierra who ended the match with a 15-4 run and another dominating set victory.
Veronica Ramirez had another impressive performance with 10 kills on 18 attempts and only two errors, which was good for a .444 hitting percentage. Michele Mendizabal also contributed 10 kills, while Kiana Krumm added six kills on the evening.
It was a balanced attack for the Golden Eagles who finished with six players who tallied at least four kills in the match. Brianna Greeley contributed five kills, with Noelle Hamblin and Kiana Velasco each pitching in with four kills.
Setters Marissa Fregoso and Hannah Schaffer led the offense with 20 assists and 16 assists, respectively.
Krumm led the team in digs with 22, while Emily Morgan was close behind with 21 digs.
La Sierra controlled the play at the net as well, finishing the match with a 7-2 advantage in team blocks. Ramirez led all players in that category with a total of two solo blocks in addition to two block assists.
After a successful start to the conference schedule, the women's volleyball team will step away from Cal Pac play and put their winning streak to the test. On Tuesday, the team will travel to Westmont College (Santa Barbara, Calif.). The Warriors (16-1) are currently ranked number five in the nation and have a 15 match winning streak of their own. Tuesday's match is scheduled for a 5pm first serve and can be view through Westmont's live stream at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/westmont/
