GLENDALE, Ariz. – Playing their fourth match in five days, the No. 1-ranked Vanguard men's volleyball team was due for a letdown.

It would be easy to blame tired legs for Saturday's 25-23, 25-14, 25-23 loss at unranked Arizona Christian, but Lion head coach Brian Rofer would have none of it.

"Unfortunately that could be the case but not an excuse," said Rofer. "Our effort was there, but it was just not in the cards for us today. The Firestorm played extremely well."

The Lions, which clinched the Golden State Athletic Conference regular season title one day earlier at OUAZ, hit just .253 for the match. It was only the third time this season VU failed to finish above the .300 mark.

Kyle Anema (SR/La Mirada, CA) led the Lions with eight kills. Four Lions followed with seven kills apiece – Cody Watts (SR/Clovis, CA), Tanner Woods (JR/Portland, OR), Valesis Vaisuai (JR/Hayward, CA) and Will Anderson (JR/Tualatin, OR).

VU had no answer for Arizona Christian's Chris Beck. The Firestorm outside hitter set a school single-match record with 28 kills and hit .440 (28-6-50) overall.

The Firestorm hit at a blistering .426 (49-9-94) clip for the contest.

VU is now 14-4 overall and 8-1 in GSAC play. ACU improved to 9-9 and 3-5 in conference action.

What Happened?

Set 1 - Beck had nine kills in set one for the Firestorm. There were eight ties in the frame.

With the score tied at 10-10, the Firestorm went on a 9-4 run to open up a five-point advantage at 19-14. Beck started the run with a kill, then the Firestorm blocked Anderson on consecutive plays. Beck concluded the run with another slam.

The Lions fought back to tie the score at 21-21 following a 4-0 run as Watts had a pair of kills.

The Firestorm called timeout and got a huge block from Cade McGee and Korbin Torres on Anema to go back up by one. Beck followed with a kill for the 23-21 ACU lead, but Watts threw one down to get VU back within one.

Both teams sided out the rest of the way as Nate Mayfield clinched the 25-23 victory with a kill for ACU.

Set 2 - The Firestorm dominated hitting .591 (15-2-22) while holding the Lions to .130 (7-4-23) efficiency.

ACU broke out to a 4-0 lead and led the entire set. Torres, who had a match-high six block assists, teamed with Beck to stuff Woods for a 10-3 lead.

The Lions could get no closer than five as an Anema ace trimmed the deficit to 14-9. The Firestorm put the set away with a 6-1 run, getting kills from James Hansen, Thomas Johannesen and Mayfield to go up 20-10.

ACU scored the final three points to win 25-14.

Set 3 – Beck went bananas with 14 kills in set three to single-handedly beat the Lions. He accounted for ACU's first three kills, but the Lions spread out their offense and took an early 5-3 lead.

Vaisuai, Anderson, Ryan Smith (SR/Parker, CO) and Woods all had kills to procure the early lead. Woods had another kill to give VU its biggest lead at 8-5.

With the Lions leading 12-10, Beck really began to seize control of the match. He had kills on ACU's next five plays, with the last one tying the match at 15-15.

The two teams traded miscues at the service line with ACU emerging ahead at 18-17. A McGee attack error knotted the score at 18-18.

It was back-and-forth down the stretch with seven ties. Each time VU would tie the score, Beck put ACU ahead by one with another kill. His 14th kill of the set gave ACU a 22-21 lead.

Vaisuai and Anderson stuffed Beck on the next play to knot the score at 22-22. VU committed an attack error to hand the Firestorm a 23-22 lead, but Vaisuai responded with a kill to tie the score again.

ACU scored the final two points on a Mayfield kill and a Lion attack error.

The Lions hit a match-best .323 (15-5-31) in the third set, but the Firestorm were better at .389 (18-4-36).

Why Is It Important?: VU's season-best seven-match win streak came to an end, but the Lions knocked off three straight top-10 opponents over the course of four days before running into the Firestorm buzzsaw.

What's Was Said?: "Arizona Christian served better than we passed," said Rofer. "But their one hitter Chris Beck was the biggest factor. He had 50 attempts hitting over .400 with 28 kills. We could not slow him down. We will watch the video of this match and see where we can improve and move on. We have our goal."