AZUSA, Calif. – The switch was turned on. Who exactly hit it has yet to be determined, but the end result was a bright light shinning on Azusa Pacific, which on the day it fell from the NAIA Top 25, turned around and swept newly-ranked No. 20 California Baptist, 30-20, 30-27, 30-26, in the Felix Event Center.
Junior Colleen Walker exploded for the finest match of her young Cougar career, tallying a season-high 21 kills on the strength of a .348 attack clip.
The Cougars roared from the gate, taking game one in surprisingly easy fashion, 30-20. Walker led the way with 9 kills, 1 more than the entire Cal Baptist team combined.
"Tonight I was in it mentally," said Walker, who struggled in the past 2 matches with a minus-.016 hitting percentage which included 14 errors. "From the start I was in rhythm tonight. Our serve receive and passing was on, and it just set the tone for all of us."
"It was night and day for Colleen," said first-year Cougar coach Chris Keife. "Tonight she was a stud."
Cal Baptist led through the early portion of the second game before the Cougars rallied behind Walkers' 8 more kills to catch the Lancers at 20 and then pull away for the win.
"Individually, we are very talented team," said Keife. "With a new coach and new program it takes time. Tonight, we passed and played defense. Now we need to be consistent as a team. When one person is down it shouldn't take the rest of the team with them. Tonight it certainly didn't, they picked up each other."
In the third game, Jenny Brickner and Katrina Anker came along Walker's side to help put away CBU with 5 kills each. The Cougars raced out to an 11-3 lead, withstood a Lancer charge that pulled Cal Baptist back to within 3 at 16-13, and then held firm for the 3-game sweep.
"It is finally starting to click as to where we want to get to as a team," said Keife. "I think they are tired of mediocrity.
Anker finished with 12 kills for the match and Brickner added 8. The Cougars, who entered the match averaging nearly 10 service errors a match, committed just 6 tonight and had only 3 serve receive errors.
"We absolutely needed this," Keife added. "The ladies needed to know that all the work they're doing is going to pay off. To beat a team like Cal Baptist is great for us as a whole."
With the victory, Azusa Pacific improves to 8-4 on the season, 2-1 in the GSAC, while Cal Baptist, which was paced by Yahaira Prado's 16 kills, falls to 9-2 overall, 1-2 in the GSAC.
