Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SAN MARCOS, Calif. -- The first competitive games for Vanguard women's volleyball as provisional members of the NCAA Division II went as good and one would want, as the Lions swept both Chadron State (Neb.) and Cal State San Marcos.  VU cruised through the Eagles from Nebraska, winning 25-19, 25-20, and 25-13.  VU had more of a challenge against the Cougars but played better in the extra rallies, winning 25-22, 26-24, and 27-25. The Lions will start the season at 2-0.

What Happened?
VU 3 Chad 0 : Down 1-0, the first NCAA kill in school history came off the hand of Alister Borabo off a Madeline DeLucia pass, which quickly tied up the first set at 1-1.  Chadron State held an early edge but VU would tie things at 4-4 and then 9-9.  Both Borabo and Bailey Olbur connected on swings during the next few rallies, which allowed the Lions to claim a 11-10 lead.  The Eagles snared a couple slim leads but VU remained resolute and kept their foes to within a point as the set moved along.  A slam from Kayla Robinson changed everything for the new kids on the block, as her kill started a 5-0 run that put the Lions up 19-14.  VU would maintain their advantage from there, as a kill by Adeline Galvanoni and an attack error by the Eagles gave Vanguard its first NCAA set win at 25-19.
 
The Blue and Gold were better off the hop in the second period, as kills by Galvanoni and Morgan Cole helped the Lions run out a 9-5 lead.  VU would maintain a small degree of separation as the set moved along, but the Eagles slowly chipped away and closed the gap down to 20-17.  An ace made it 20-18 but that was as close as the Eagles got.  A couple of attack errors by Chadron padded the Vanguard lead and sapped the will out of the Eagles.  An ace for Jenesis Rios and a kill by Galvanoni ended the set in favor of the Lions, who claimed the middle period 25-20.
 
What fight the Eagles had left seemed to vanish at the beginning of the third set, as the Lions rolled through the points, highlighted by three kills for Borabo.  DeLucia had an ace and Galvanoni also splashed down a couple of kills as VU threw down a 10-3 lead to open the frame.  Chadron State responded with a little show of force to make the score 13-7, but the Eagles were soon in full retreat.  The Lions outscored the Eagles 12-6 the rest of the set to complete the first sweep of the NCAA era 25-13, with a Chadron service error ending the match.
 
The Lions ended the match with a huge 45-21 edge in kills and had seven aces as a team.  Both Borabo and Cole led VU with 10 kills and Cole led the lineup with a .500 hitting percentage with zero errors on 20 swings.  Borabo had three errors on 20 attacks for a .350 hitting rate and Galvanoni had nine kills on 22 attempts for a .318 percentage.  Olbur had eight kills and one error on 16 swings for a .438 clip.
 
Cole collected her first NCAA double-double by leading VU with 17 digs, with DeLucia next with 12 and Blair Dodge third with nine.  DeLucia netted her own double-double by posting a team-high 23 assists, with Rachel Lim picking up 15.  Both setters and Jenesis Rios each had two aces.

VU 3 CSUSM 0 :  The Blue and Gold kept the arms warm between games and started off with another hot run to open the second match of the day.  Two bad sets by CSUSM and a kill for Borabo put VU up 3-1 and Cole soon joined the fun to help increase the advantage to 10-4.  The Cougars soon cinched things up to 11-7, but kills from Olbur and Delaney Hill propelled Vanguard forward again.  Galvanoni rocketed down a kill to put the Lions up 17-12 but San Marcos had a 4-1 stretch to make it an 18-16 score.  Just as strikes from Hill and an ace by Dodge put the lead up to 20-16, the Cougars found six of the next eight points to knot the score at 22-22.  Facing the first real challenge of the day, the Lions answered the call and threw down three straight points, getting a block from Olbur, a kill from Cole, and a CSUSM attack error to take set one 25-22.
 
San Marcos led through the opening rallies, going up 10-5, but the Lions made a lunge to get back in the game.  Olbur picked up an ace and a kill and some mistakes by  the Cougars brought VU to within one at 15-14.  Another CSUSM attack error leveled the set for the first time at 16-16 but San Marcos held a slim edge over the next ew rallies.  VU tied the score at 20-20 and 21-21, taking its first lead off a bad CSUSM set.  Ahead 22-21, an ace for Rios followed, but the Cougars swung into a 24-23 lead after that.  Trailing by one, Olbur pounded down a kill to tie things at 24-all and helped the Lions get into the right rotation.  Cole slammed down a kill and then she combined with Robinson for a block to give Vanguard set two 26-24. 
 
The third set also required overtime, but it did not seem that way at the start.  VU got a pair of kills from Galvanoni and an ace from DeLucia to help establish a 7-2 lead.  The Lions led by two points through the middle stages of the set until the Cougars cut the small edge and tied the period at 14-14.  After two more ties, the hosts sailed to a four-point lead, putting VU down 22-18.  The Lions might have folded in order to win the match in the fourth, but a team that just went to the NAIA Quarterfinals is not so easily tamed.  Olbur provided a big block, CSUSM made a couple of errors, and back-to-back kills from Galvanoni and Borabo tied the score at 24-24.  Soon tied at 25-25, the Lions went back to the middle and Olbur rewarded the decision with two straight kills to claim the set 27-25 and hand Vanguard its second sweep of the day.

The Lions hit .189 as a team and the Cougars had a .119 mark.  Most of the team stats were close to even, with the Lions just winning in aces (6-5), kills (42-35), and digs (64-58).  Cole was stellar again, hitting .444 with 14 kills, two errors, and 13 digs for back-to-back double-doubles.  Olbur had eight kills and one error on 13 attempts for a .538 hitting percentage and paced the lineup with two solo blocks and three aces.  Dodge had 14 digs, Lim had 12 assists and 11 digs, and DeLucia had 20 helpers and a team-high 19 digs.

What was Said?  "Today was a great first outing," said Head Coach Jennifer Dorn.  "We continued to learn and adapt throughout the day and had a great finish in our last set over San Marcos after being down 24-20."
 
What's Next?  The Lions stay down in the San Diego area and play Canadian school Simon Fraser at Point Loma tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.