AZUSA, Calif. – All-American Jill Baker recorded 9 of her match-high 23 kills during a pivotal third set to lead the NAIA's No. 5-ranked Azusa Pacific University to a key 4-set Golden State Athletic Conference victory over No. 14 Point Loma Nazarene University, Saturday afternoon in the Felix Event Center. The Cougars won 20-25, 25-13, 28-26, 25-11.

In a see-saw affair that included nail-biting and blow-out sets during its 90-minutes of play, the match turned on Baker's third-set performance in which she put down 9 balls on 20 attempts, and none was more powerful or important than her final kill of the set, a rocket down the left sideline that allowed Azusa Pacific to complete a comeback from a 21-18 deficit late in the set.

Baker registered 5 kills in the closing rallies of the set, including back-to-back kills that knotted the game at 23-all. From there the 2 nationally-ranked powers traded points until Marguerite Hanna and Baker were able to end consecutive plays on kills, Baker's coming after Point Loma was unable to offer an attack that in turn allowed the Cougars to run their final play to perfection.

Spurred by the critical set victory, and perhaps taking advantage of a deflated set of Sea Lions, Azusa Pacific rolled in the fourth set, cruising to a 13-5 lead behind the play of sophomore Whittany Radcliffe who collected 4 of her 18 kills during the early run. The Cougars posted a 14-point fourth-set victory and took the match to complete Azusa Pacific's fourth season-sweep of Point Loma in the past 6 years.

The teams split the first 2 set of the match with the Sea Lions using a 7-2 run to snap an 18-all tie and take the first set behind Tabitha Henken's 8 kills and an impressive near-.500 attack percentage of the team.

The Sea Lions broke down in the second set, finishing just 8 of 30 attacks, and Azusa Pacific responded to the first-set setback with a balanced attack in which Radcliffe, Baker and Hanna all tallied 4 kills while sophomore Ariel Beetstra added 3 on just attempts to set up a third set on which the eventual match outcome swung.

Hanna added 14 kills to a Cougar attack that collected 71 kills in the match. Sophomore Robin Portela recorded a match-high 21 digs while Baker notched 14. Henkin finished with 15 kills to pace the Sea Lions.

With the victory, Azusa Pacific improves to 19-7 overall, and at 10-4 remains tied for third in the GSAC with No. 4-ranked Concordia University. Point Loma Nazarene falls to 16-8 overall, 6-8 in the GSAC.

The Cougars return to the court Tuesday (Oct. 27) to host No. 11 Biola University at 7:30 p.m. in the Felix Event Center. The match is a "Dig Pink" contest in which both teams will wear pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.