SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Vanguard women's volleyball started the University of Saint Katherine tournament on Friday and took on No. 4 Marian and La Sierra. Despite being down a couple of players, the Lions gave Marian quite the handful, taking things to five sets before losing to the Knights. VU then righted the ship and swept the Golden Eagles to go to 7-4 overall.
What Happened?
Marian 3 VU 2
The Lions started the match with the Knights giving them a point on a bad set. VU would tie the first set a few times early on but Marian shrugged off the Lions and pulled out a 10-4 lead. Despite the rough stretch, Vanguard paved over the faults and rode back into the match, as a kill from Payton Darm (SO/San Juan Capistrano, CA) put VU down 16-15. The Knights then improved their advantage to 20-16 but two kills from Viktoria Dickson (FR/Chula Vista, CA) got the Lions back towards level pegging. Trailing 21-19, back-to-back kills from Hailey Petersen (SR/Omaha, NE) and Dickson knotted the game at 21-all. The Lions got the first chance to win the game after an ace from Jessica Yamamoto (SO/Aiea, HI), but the Knights scored a pair of points to tie things at 24-24. But Marian could not hold off Morgan Cole (FR/Bakersfield, CA), who got two of the set's final three points to give VU the first frame 28-26. VU hit .302 in the first and the Knights would post a .143 clip.
A similar story would develop in the second set. The Knights scored first and soon had a four-point lead. The Blue and Gold would get close a couple of times but could not tie the set until a kill from Dickson made it 19-19. Even though Marian would stay a point or two ahead, the Lions would not let them escape further and kept forcing the Knights into some errors. Ahead 24-23, Petersen again would be the deciding factor in a set, as she buried a ball to give the Lions set two 25-23. VU hit .182 and Marian hit .300.
Unfortunately, the rise in Marian's attack percentage proved to be a warning of things to come. The Knights would increase their percentage in the next two sets, hitting .304 and .314, while the Lions dropped to -.062 and .135. Marian gave up the first point of the third but after a 4-4 tie, the Knights exploded to wrestle control of the period from the Lions, putting up 10 unanswered at one point. Marian would claim the third set 25-14. VU was also down early in the fourth 8-4 before getting hot to snag a 14-11 lead. However, the Knights ended on a 14-6 streak to collect the fourth 25-20 and send the match to a fifth set.
Both teams made impressive plays during the fifth, with neither side wanting to yield. Dickson made a pair of kills during the early stages and Cole chipped in one to tie the game at 4-4. Despite falling behind 8-5, the Lions would keep in the thick of things and would tie the game up at 11-11. But the No. 4 team in the NAIA then ended the dream, closing out the match on a 4-1 run to take the fifth 15-12.
The Blue and Gold hit .149 in the match and had one more dig than Marian. Petersen and Cole each had 14 kills to top the team, with Petersen hitting at a .393 rate. Dickson was next with 13 kills in a strong showing. Madeline DeLucia (JR/Happy Valley, OR) had 26 assists while Rachel Lim (SO/La Palma, CA) had 20. Blair Dodge (SO/Aliso Viejo, CA) had 21 digs to lead the lineup.
VU 3 LSU 0
The Lions would not let a loss earlier in the day affect them, as the squad would wrap up the Golden Eagles in three sets in the second contest of the day. But La Sierra did not go down easy. Callie Bickmore (JR/Auburn, CA) got the opening point for VU but the teams would stay close to each other until it was 10-all. Bickmore then swatted a ball down and a few errors by LSU gave the Lions a lead they would not give up. La Sierra would make things interesting though. Vanguard led 17-12 but would see that cushion drop to 23-21. After a timeout, Petersen would rack up two kills and a bad set allowed the Lions to take set one 25-22.
The Blue and Gold would again pop off for an early lead thanks to Bickmore and Cole but the Golden Eagles would tie the game at 4-4. The court then slowly tilted to the VU side, as the Lions would take a 12-9 lead and make it blossom into a 25-12 victory in the second frame. VU hit a blistering .464 in the second, holding La Sierra to .091.
The Lions were behind in the early moments of the third but Cole and Darm each got kills to keep the game close. La Sierra looked poised to go on a run but they would get caught out of rotation. After that, the Lions grabbed control. The lineup took a 10-10 tie and converted it to a 20-15 lead. The Golden Eagles made things interesting again down the stretch on the comeback trail, but a bad set allowed VU to take set three 25-22.
The Lions hit .333 in the second match of the day. Bickmore had a very strong game, netting 10 kills and only two errors. Cole and Petersen were next with nine kills each. DeLucia had 23 helpers and Lim had 13. Dodge had five assists and five digs. Yamamoto would lead the team with 10 digs.
Why is it Important?
This was the first time that the Lions had played against Marian and are now 13-1 all-time against La Sierra.
What's Next?
The Lions will be back at the USK Sports Complex tomorrow for two more games. VU will first play Michigan-Dearborn at 8:00 a.m. and USK at noon.
