COSTA MESA -- The Vanguard women's volleyball team bested the Cougars of APU in Pacific West Conference play tonight in four sets, convincingly winning 25-19, 25-19, 23-25, 25-14. The Lions improved to 16-6 overall and 4-4 in conference play, while APU dropped to 7-14, 2-6.
Adeline Galvanoni had a career night, hitting. .528 with 21 kills and only two errors on 36 swings.
Payton Darm also shelled APU for a career-high five aces.
What Happened? After a floater got APU on the board, the Lions threw down six unanswered points, with Darm netting two of her three aces in the frame during the run. Galvanoni and
Kayla Robinson combined for a block, and both Galvanoni and
Morgan Cole tucked in kills to force the guests to take a timeout. APU responded with an 8-2 stretch to tie things at 9-9 out of the break, and a few rallies later,
Abigayle Gotwals slammed a ball to the deck to put VU up 11-10. The Lions pulled ahead over the next few rallies to a 16-12 edge, with Darm and Galvanoni doing the damage. The Cougars rebounded and closed up the score to two points at 19-17, but
Viktoria Dickson made a kill to put VU at 20 points first. Galvanoni nailed two kills over the next few rallies, and Darm slid in her third ace to put the Blue and Gold up 24-19. A solo rejection by Robinson closed the deal on set one, as VU won 25-19. The Lions hit .375 in the first set and held APU to a .194 rate.
Set 2: Galvanoni pasted a ball to the hardwood to open set two, but the two sides walked the score up from there. Tied again at 6-all, the Cougars got a kill and an ace to go ahead by two points, and the visitors had a 4-2 spell, the Lions took a timeout down 12-8. Galvanoni got a kill out of the break and Darm's fourth ace of the night made it 12-10. Kills by Robinson and Cole tied things at 13-13, and the score was still tied a short time later at 18-18. Galvanoni had back-to-back kills to VU ahead 19-18 to force the Cougars to take a timeout and the senior made it three in a row after the pause to push the edge to 21-18. A stuff by Darm and Dickson made APU take its second timeout down 21-18, but errors by APU and a kill by Dickson extended the VU run to 8-0, and the Lions took set two 25-19. VU had a blistering .265 hitting rate in the period, with APU at a .158 mark.
Set 3: The Cougars pulled out an early 4-1 advantage, but the Lions soon tied proceedings at 5-5. The two teams exchanged at a roughly even rate until a Cole slam put VU up 12-11. VU held a two-point edge over the next few rallies, but APU cooked up a solid stretch of play to vault ahead 20-18. Yet the Blue and Gold got strikes by Darm and Cole to equalize at 21-all, with another ace by Darm and a kill by Cole inching VU ahead 23-21. The Cougars then asked for a break and they found another gear to rattle off the next four points to, surprisingly, take set three 25-23. The Cougars hit .324 and the Lions had a .119 rate.
Set 4: It was all Vanguard in the final stanza of the match, as the Lions cruised to a 25-14 victory. The Lions had a 4-0 advantage quickly in the early stages, with
Macy Kavanaugh pumping in an ace along with blocks by Darm and Galvanoni. APU called a timeout down 7-2, but a 9-2 period by the Blue and Gold put the home side ahead 17-5. Gotwals had four kills the rest of the set and
Kayla Henninger jumped in for a block assist. Vanguard hit .243 in the final set and held APU to a .000 tally.
VU had a hitting percentage of .209 for the match, while APU had a .109 rating. The Lions won all team stats, with a 9-1 lead in aces and a 13-6 edge in blocks being the standouts. Gotwals had 10 kills and five block assists, and
Morgan Cole got back to her double-double ways with 10 kills and 15 digs, which was second only to
Kate Fagundes' match-high 16 digs. Robinson had eight total blocks and led all players with seven block assists. Kavanaugh had two aces and 29 assists, with
Sarah Wold registering 16.
What's Next? Vanguard gets most of next week to prepare for a Friday night match against the Warriors of Westmont, which will start at 6:00 p.m.
