COSTA MESA – Celebrating senior night, the Vanguard women's volleyball team faced Hope International Saturday night at OCC. The Lions were tested at times by some feisty defending from the Royals, but VU kept working and overcame a couple of big deficits in the first and third sets to complete the sweep 25-22, 25-22, and 26-24. The Lions conclude the regular season at 22-10 overall and 12-6 in the Golden State Athletic Conference. HIU ends the year 6-20 overall and 5-13 in the GSAC.
What Happened? Chandler Nelson (SR/Colorado Springs, CO), Maggie Gunther (SR/Huntington Beach, CA), and Victoria Verceles (SR/Long Beach, CA) were all honored before the match for their contributions to the program. Gunther, despite being injured, got the honorary start before being substituted. Verceles made the opening serve and Nelson made a quaint pass to Hailey Petersen (SR/Omaha, NE) to open the scoring in the set, as the seniors seemed determined to go out in style early on. A couple of errors by the Royals soon followed and Vanguard was up 3-0 rapidly. Hope then woke up and started to play better volleyball, with the score soon tied at 5-5. Callie Bickmore (JR/Auburn, CA) and Delaney Hill (FR/Foothill Ranch, CA) each recorded kills but the two sides remained close until it was 10-9 HIU. The Royals then stormed the castle for a 9-4 run that put the visitors ahead 19-13. But just as they did the other night in San Dimas to pull off the reverse sweep against Life Pacific, the Lions reinforced the gate and counter-attacked. Blair Dodge (SO/Aliso Viejo, CA) put down an ace to start the run and she made eight serves in a row. The Royals made a few errors and Bickmore smacked down a pair of big kills as the Blue and Gold put together an 8-1 hot streak to claim a 21-19 edge. Hope then got a kill but Cambria Fernandez (SR/Northridge, CA) smoked a ball to the ground to make it 22-20. Two more mistakes by HIU and a kill from Hill allowed Vanguard to take set one 25-22. VU hit .156 in the first set and HIU hit .149.
The second set started off with a kill from Payton Darm (SO/San Juan Capistrano, CA) but the Royals soon established a 6-3 lead. Morgan Cole (FR/Bakersfield, CA) slapped down a kill and some more HIU miscues brought VU to within one at 9-8. Dodge then dished out another ace to tie the score but neither side could escape by more than one point. The Lions did go up 16-14 at one stage, but the Royals soon tied the score and it would remain snug until it was 20-20. Both sides exchanged attack errors to make it 21-21 before Hill proceeded to thrash down two kills, forcing HIU to take its second timeout. Cole put down an ace and Darm would pounce on a good pass from Rachel Lim (SO/La Palma, CA) to hand set two to the Blue and Gold 25-22. The Lions improved to a .158 hitting percentage, while Hope International dropped to a .132 clip.
The third set saw the Royals snatch the first point of the period but a kill from Cole made it 1-1. Both sides had their best hitting percentage in the third and it showed, as each squad put balls to the floor efficiently as the set moved along. Tied at 14-all, VU would take a two-point lead, but the Royals bounced back to tie things again. Another slim Vanguard lead would disappear, as HIU built some energy in an attempt to stave off the sweep. That paid dividends quickly, as the visitors built a 7-1 run to go up 22-18, putting VU under siege again. Bickmore then put down a big kill and the comeback was on again. Verceles pocketed an ace to make the score 22-20 and even though HIU got the next point, a couple of errors brought the score to 23-22. Hope called a timeout but Lim made an ace right after the break ended to knot the score at 23-all. The Royals again had a lead, this time at 24-23, but Hill and Cole found another level and took over for the last three rallies. Hill put down a kill, Cole buried an ace, and Hill then pummeled another kill to take set three 26-24 and the match 3-0. VU had an attack percentage of .163, while the Royals hit .293.
For the night, VU hit at a .159 rate, with HIU at .190. The Royals led in a couple of team categories but VU had an 8-0 edge in aces and the only two solo blocks of the contest. Hope hit .190 for the game. Hill had 10 kills to lead the Lions, the fourth time she has posted 10+ kills this year. Fernandez was next with eight kills. Darm had a successful night, getting six kills with only one error on 11 attempts. Madeline DeLucia (JR/Happy Valley, OR) had 16 assists and Lim had 14. Dodge and Cole each had three aces. Cole also had 19 digs and Dodge had 14 to lead the squad. Fernandez and Lim were tied for third on the team with eight. Adeline Galvanoni (FR/Chandler, AZ) paced the lineup with three block assists.
What was Said? "We had a little hiccup losing Hailey early on, but the girls showed great resiliency," said Head Coach Jennifer Dorn. "Adeline did an awesome job filling in and getting some big block touches. It's been a great season so far and we are looking forward to making it even more special next weekend at the tournament!"
Why is it Important? VU is now 51-7 all-time against HIU and has forged a two-game win streak against the Royals. The two wins to end the year turned out to be big, as Life Pacific beat SDCC on Saturday and Jessup upended Westmont. JU claims the second seed in the tourney, as they beat VU both times this year. The Blue and Gold will therefore be the three seed at the GSAC Tournament in Arizona. LPU becomes the four seed and will face OUAZ.
What's Next? OUAZ will host the GSAC Tournament and VU will take on The Master's on Thursday, November 10, at 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time.
