Cougars take care of business on home court Monday, advance record to 14-3
Azusa Pacific women’s volleyball bounced back after Friday’s loss to Point Loma with a dominant performance at home against Holy Names University. APU defeated HNU in three sets, making few mistakes and using their size advantage to create and capitalize on scoring opportunities. Their sweep of HNU improves their conference record to 8-1, placing them second in the PacWest.
Monday’s match seemed to mirror the Cougars’ match against Point Loma, except the Cougars, were on the right side of the scoreboard this time. APU came out sharp and aggressive in the first set, taking a 3-0 lead behind an ace from Katarina Radisic. After extending their lead to 8-2, the HNU Hawks put together a four-point run and hung around for the remainder of the match. The two teams exchanged kills back and forth, with each team committing several service errors, but APU never gave up the lead and took the first set 25-21.
Kills from Annaka Jorgenson and Sara Wagenveld helped set the tone for the second set for the Cougars. They quickly grabbed an 11-5 lead after Jorgenson served a run of six straight points. Julianne Miller and Aliyah Morrison helped maintain their lead with five combined kills. APU cruised to a 25-17 victory of set two, posting an impressive 16 total kills as a team.
The middle position has been a consistent strength for APU this season. This was emphatically true in Monday’s match. Middles Miller and Wagenveld led all scorers with 10 points and 9.5 points respectively and combined for 16 kills on the game. Their blocking ability and savvy play at the net has a noticeable impact on opposing hitters, and they know it.
“When you go up there and make a big block, the team goes wild and it really picks up the energy to help get the energy in our favor,” said Wagenveld.
Blocking, especially from the middle position, has provided a momentum shift all season and was crucial to their comeback in the third set on Monday night.
HNU took control of the last set, capitalizing on lackluster Cougar errors. However, the Hawks made several attacking mistakes of their own which allowed APU to keep the set close. After trailing four points, the Cougars strung several runs together to climb back into control once again. APU finished the set strong and won 25-21, winning 11 of the last 15 points behind several middle kills and a number of HMU errors.
Jorgenson, who finished the night with seven kills, one ace and one block, was proud of how her teammates responded after dropping three straight sets to Point Loma.
“Friday’s loss was really tough for us,” said Jorgenson. “But coming in, being focused on each other and being focused on the week we have ahead of us [helped us find] our rhythm again.”
APU will go on the road for three games in Hawaii this weekend. They have stout competition in Chaminade, Hawaii Hilo and Hawaii Pacific, the first, third and fourth-ranked teams, respectively, in the PacWest with strong conference records.
“It is a pivotal point for us. They are good volleyball teams and it is a tough environment to play in,” said head coach Chris Keife. “We will need to learn to travel and be as competitive as we can be.”
Friday’s match against Chaminade begins at 4 p.m. PST.