SANTA ANA, Calif. -- The Vanguard women's volleyball team will return to the NAIA Championship Final Site for the first time since 2018 after a rip-roaring victory over Benedictine University Mesa Saturday night.  The Lions looked to be in the clear in the NAIA Opening Round game after the winning the first two sets, but the Redhawks then battled back to force a fifth set.  This was only the second five-set match of the entire season for VU, but the squad saved its best for last, as Vanguard did not let the Redhawks within two points in the fifth set and went on to win the match 26-24, 25-18, 21-25, 21-25, 15-7.  The Lions improve to 27-1 and the Redhawks will end the year at 29-4.
 
Four Lions finished with double-digit kills, with Morgan Cole and Callie Bickmore notching 12 and Viktoria Dickson and Adeline Galvanoni each netting 10. Kayla Robinson had the best hitting percentage on the team (with more than one attempt), as she had nine kills and two errors on 14 attempts for a .500 mark, making crucial kills when called upon.
 
The squad will find out tomorrow what pool the team will be placed in and then gear up to fly to Sioux City, Iowa.  Pool Play will begin on November 29 at the Tyson Events Center and more information, along with all NAIA coverage, can be found here.
 
What Happened?  The Lions seemed poised to run away with things early in the opening set by splashing down the first four points.  Dickson got the first two kills of the night but after her second strike, the Redhawks ran up four unanswered points of their own.  The score would seesaw between the two sides from there, but an error by the visitors and an ace from Jenesis Rios put VU up 12-9.  Vanguard would remain ahead by a pair for a few rallies but the squad then unfurled all the sails, as strikes from Cole, Galvanoni, and Bailey Olbur pushed VU ahead to a 22-18 edge.  Benedictine Mesa called a timeout and the break worked, as the Redhawks would close the gap to 22-21.  Dickson recorded another kill and then joined Olbur to make a block to put VU on the brink of taking set one, but the Redhawks would score the next three points to knot things at 24-24.  But a ball handling error by BenU and a kill by Bickmore allowed the Lions to quickly take the set 26-24.  VU hit .200 in the first frame and the Redhawks hit .118.
 
Set 2
The Blue and Gold would again start off well, with a Blair Dodge ace helping the squad advance to a 5-2 lead.  However, the Redhawks would return in force and tie things at 5-5.  Four more ties would occur over the next few rallies, but the Lions then scored three straight points to take a 13-10 lead.  The match then tilted to BenU, as they put up a 4-0 run to snag a 14-13 edge, but VU countered with a 4-0 streak themselves to go ahead 17-14.  The Redhawks called a timeout but the guests sputtered the rest of the way, as VU would outscore the Redhawks 8-4 to close out the set and win 25-18.  VU had a match-best .310 hitting percentage in the frame with 15 kills and six errors on 29 attempts.  BenU was held to a -.042 mark.
 
Set 3
With 12 sweeps on the season, one might have thought that the Lions were in line for a 13th, especially after the squad went ahead 7-1 to start the third period.  Dickson and Cole each tallied strikes and the Redhawks hurt their own chances with errors.  The mistakes forced the visitors to call a timeout and thus began a big turn in the contest.  Benedictine Mesa started to feed Kylie Bartel, who led the Redhawks with 17 kills on the night, and results soon followed.  Ahead 12-6, VU saw its lead come down to 12-10, and even after a Vanguard timeout, the Redhawks would soon level things at 14-all.  The Redhawks managed to impose their will onto the match as the frame went along, and from a 15-15 tie, BenU would outscore the Lions 10-6 to take the set 25-21.  The Redhawks hit a game-best .258 and VU hit .172.
 
Set 4
Benedictine Mesa put their block to the forefront in the fourth set and victimized the Lions four times, as the Redhawks led from start to finish in the fourth.  VU was down 3-2 early on but would never get to within one point again.  VU did outscore the Redhawks 5-3 down the stretch but lost 25-21, with the Lions hitting .158 in the period.  The Redhawks hit .235 and looked ready to serve some poetic justice after the VU men's volleyball team had pulled off the reverse sweep against BenU last year in the National Championship game.
 
Set 5
Jennifer Dorn, the GSAC Coach of the Year, got her team to reset in the intermission between periods and the Vanguard side the home fans knew and loved came back to the court.  Dickson started the frame with a kill and Rachel Lim dished out an ace to make it 2-0.  Errors by the Redhawks and a kill from Olbur further entrenched the lad to 8-2, with Benedictine Mesa burning their first timeout in the process.  The Redhawks then had their swan song, putting up three unanswered points to cut the gap to 8-5, but that would be as close as it got  The Lions would outscore the visitors 10-2 the rest of the way, with Bickmore, Robinson, and Dickson all striking for kills.  BenU had three errors as well, including on the last point that sent the Lions tumbling onto the court in celebration. 
 
VU hit .197 for the match and the Redhawks hit .129.  VU had more kills, digs, and assists on the night, but the Redhawks led both the ace and block categories.
 
Natalie Escher led all players with 19 digs and Cole completed another double-double by adding 14 digs.  Rachel Lim had 33 assists to lead all players and Madeline DeLucia had 20.
 
 
What was Said?  "We are so excited to be headed to Iowa," stated Coach Dorn after the match amid the celebrations.  "We are continuing to learn and be challenged under pressure and need to do a better job within the set to recalibrate.  On the flip side, I'm very proud of how we reset our mentality going into the fifth set. We knew we needed to get back to our process that we had abandoned in set four.  Our goal was to stay in each point and not think ahead or be in the past and we did a great job of executing."