AZUSA, Calif. -- Returning to Azusa Pacific University for the first time in almost exactly 13 years (10/4/2011), Vanguard women's volleyball could not take the reverse fixture in Pacific West Conference action Saturday afternoon.  Though the Lions won the first set 26-24, the Cougars claimed the next three 25-20, 25-21, and 25-14 to pick up the victory.  APU moves to 10-4 overall and 6-1 in the PacWest, while VU drops to 5-5, 2-4.
 
Adeline Galvanoni continued her run of good form, notching 14 kills to lead all players, with Alister Borabo next on VU with 12.
 
 
What Happened? The first period opened with a positive run for Vanguard, as a kill by Morgan Cole and back-to-back aces for Madeline DeLucia put the Lions up 3-0.  APU soon put down their first kill of the day but VU would stay at least two points ahead of their hosts during the opening stages of the first.  The squad then put down a 5-2 stretch to extend the lead to 16-11, with a strike by Delaney Hill capping the run.  The advantage grew to six points off tallies by Kayla Robinson and Galvanoni, but the offense then encountered a cold streak.  APU used the lull to negate the Vanguard lead and tie things up at 24-24 on an 8-3 run.  However, Borabo rose up and threw a ball to the floor to put the Lions ahead again and an attack error by the Cougars gave the Lions set one 26-24.  Vanguard hit a team-best .417 in the opening set with 18 kills and three errors on 36 attempts.  APU hit a match-best .429.
 
Set 2:  Though Azusa got the first two points of the frame, throw downs from Robinson and Borabo tied things up at 2-2.  But after a 3-3 tie, the Lions could not keep pace with the Cougars.  A 5-2 run put APU up 8-4 and they kept a multi-point lead the rest of the way.  VU made a lunge midway through the frame, cutting the gap to 12-10, but that would be as close as the score got.  The Cougars took set two 25-20 off an attack error, leveling the match at 1-1.  Vanguard was held to a .081 rate in the set. 
 
Set 3:  The offense made a response in the third for the Blue and Gold, as the Lions got up to a .194 mark, but it would not be enough.  Borabo got two kills to give the Blue and Gold a 1-0 and then a 2-1 lead, but APU answered with four unanswered points.  Soon trailing by five points, VU reset and again trimmed the deficit to 12-10, with the squad able to stay tucked behind APU by one point through the middle stages of the frame.  Kills from Cole and Galvanoni allowed VU to keep taking ground but unfortunately, the team could not tie up the contest.  A 5-2 stretch for Azusa gave the hosts enough breathing space to take set three 25-21.
 
Set 4:  Searching for a reserve of energy, Vanguard seemed to find one to open the fourth period, with Galvanoni and Borabo alternating with kills to drive VU to a 5-2 edge.  Yet APU did not go away and the home side soon rolled out a 9-2 run to take a 11-7 lead that they would not give up.  Azusa claimed the set 25-14 to take the match victory.
 
VU hit .186 in the match while the Cougars had a .301 rating.  The Lions had slim leads in kills (56-55) and digs (64-62) but APU led all other categories.  Hill had 11 kills and a .450 attack percentage with only two errors on 20 attempts.  Robinson had nine kills.  DeLucia had 25 assists to top VU, with Rachel Lim next with 16, and both setters had two aces.  Galvanoni and Robinson each had three block assists while Cole led the Lions with 19 digs.  Blair Dodge was second with 14 digs and DeLucia had 10 to net a double-double. 
 
What's Next?  Vanguard will hit the road for an October 11 match at Academy of Art at 6:30 p.m.