SANTA ANA, Calif. -- The Vanguard women's volleyball team was in control on Friday night against Arizona Christian, as the Lions collected their sixth sweep of the year. VU was dominant in the odd-numberd sets,winning 25-14, 25-21, and 25-14.  While the offense had a slight dip in set two, VU smashed at a .359 rate for the match, with 43 kills and 10 errors on 92 attempts.  Morgan Cole led the Lions with 10 kills and Callie Bickmore was tied for second with nine in addition to not posting any errors on 16 swings.  The Lions improve to 16-1 overall and 6-0 in the Golden State Athletic Conference, while the Firestorm drop to 6-12, 0-6.
 
What Happened? Vanguard hit .481 in the opening frame, a match-high, with 15 kills and two errors.  VU peppered in the first three points of the game, with Bickmore and then Viktoria Dickson bashing down kills.  Arizona Christian picked up a two tallies to cut the lead to 5-2 but some ACU mistakes and two aces from Natalie Escher propelled Vanguard to an 8-2 advantage.  The Firestorm called a timeout and picked up a pair of points but were soon down 12-5, as the Lions gathered four-straight points in response.  Arizona Christian then cobbled together a short run to trim the VU lead back to a more manageable 14-10 gap, but that was as close as it got.  The Lions closed out the set with an 11-4 stretch, with Bailey Olbur picking up a kill and Rachel Lim snagging an ace along the way.  Delaney Hill also tallied two kills down the stretch and Cole pasted a ball to the deck to give VU set one 25-14.  ACU hit at a .233 rate in the first set.
 
Set 2
The Firestorm emerged with some swagger to start the second period and held a lead six times during the opening stages.  Vanguard used kills from Cole and Dickson to knot things up at 7-7 but the Firestorm remained just a step ahead over the next few rallies. The score would be tied for the fourth time of the set at 11-all when a kill from Cole opened the floodgates.  The Lions chugged away with a 7-2 run to grab an 18-13 lead, forcing ACU to take a timeout.  Cole had two kills during that stretch and Madeline DeLucia had a pair of aces as well.  While the break did help the Firestorm in the short term, as they responded with three points in four rallies, it did not change the overall narrative.  Hill, Dickson, and Bickmore all pounded down kills over the next few rallies to put VU up 23-19 and an ace by Blair Dodge made it 24-19.  Despite two late points by ACU, Bickmore threw down the final kill of the set, as VU claimed a 25-21 win in the second.  VU hit .205, while ACU hit .171 in the frame.
 
Set 3
What would become the final set began with both teams exchanging points, but a couple of errors allowed Vanguard to inch ahead 4-2.  Bickmore splashed down with another kill but the Firestorm then leapfrogged to a 6-5 advantage.  But over the next few rallies, the Lions imposed their will on the set and a kill by Hill started a 4-0 run to put the Blue and Gold up 12-8.  VU would jump ahead 15-10 courtesy of back-to-back kills from Bickmore and Olbur, which forced Arizona Christian to call its first timeout.  The guests could not stem the tide though, as VU outscored ACU 4-2 after the timeout, causing the Firestorm to take another one.  With Vanguard up 19-12, the Firestorm would score only twice more, with the Lions collecting the sweep on a block from Olbur and Dickson.  The Lions hit at a .462 rate in the third and held ACU to a -.069 mark. 
 
Vanguard had a 9-2 edge in aces for the match and a 44-33 lead in digs.  Dickson tied Bickmore with nine kills and hit .389 for the match.  DeLucia had 20 assists and Lim had 18, with Escher leading the squad in digs with 15.  Dodge was next with seven digs.  At the net, Kayla Robinson paced the field with four block assists and one solo block.
 
Why is it Important?  Menlo and Life Pacific remain one game back of VU, with the rest of the pack falling off from there.  This is the fourth win in a row for VU over Arizona Christian and the third sweep in a row.
 
What is Next?  The Blue and Gold will be back at Calvary Chapel High School tomorrow at noon to take on OUAZ.