COSTA MESA, Calif. -- The NAIA's No. 5-ranked Azusa Pacific secured its sixth consecutive 20-win season by opening a 4-match road trip with a 25-20, 25-21, 25-23 sweep over No. 10 Vanguard Saturday night.

The victory lifts the Cougars (20-7 overall) into third place in the Golden State Athletic Conference with an 11-4 league mark, which is Azusa Pacific's best record through 15 conference matches since 2002. It was the third time in sixth-year head coach Chris Keife's tenure that the Cougars picked up 20 wins before November 1.

"It's definitely humbling," Keife said. "I've been blessed to have so many good athletes in our program. When you're able to consistently have success as a program, it allows you to continue to set the bar higher each year with each new group that comes in. We're definitely looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead for us."

Azusa Pacific's match leaders included virtually everybody who played. On offense, the Cougars had 5 players with 7 or more kills, led by 11-kill efforts from sophomore middle blocker Amy Alkazin and senior outside hitter Jill Baker. Setters Raechel Jones and Sophie Burns nearly split their combined 40 assists right down the middle, with Jones tallying 22 assists to Burns' 18.

The Cougar defense had a nearly-flawless serve receive, surrendering just 1 ace in 57 Vanguard serves for a .983 passing percentage, and Baker and sophomore libero Robin Portela registered 15 digs each to combine for more than half of the team's 54 digs. Ariel Beetstra was Azusa Pacific's blocking leader with 3 total blocks (1 solo and 2 assist), and Alkazin and sophomore Krista Brenner were each in on a pair of blocks, as well.

It was Azusa Pacific's first live match action since last Saturday's 4-set win over Point Loma Nazarene, with the Cougars' Tuesday match against Biola postponed until Nov. 11 due to a power outage that affected the Azusa Pacific campus that evening.

"I wasn't sure how we would come out without the opportunity for competition earlier in the week (due to the blackout)," Keife said. "I didn't know how our rhythm would be, but I was happy with the way we went about our business tonight."

Back-to-back aces from Jones opened the match, and Azusa Pacific never trailed in the opening set. Vanguard tied the score twice, at 14-14 and 15-15, before Alkazin notched back-to-back kills during a 4-point burst that helped the Cougars claim 10 of the final 15 points in a 25-20 opening-set win.

Trailing 5-4 in the second set, Azusa Pacific took 5 of 6 points to take control again. The lead fluctuated between 1 and 3 points throughout the set until the Cougars closed out the set with back-to-back points for a 25-21 victory. Baker had 5 kills, 7 digs and an ace in the set.

Sophomore right side hitter Whittany Radcliffe sparked a pair of Azusa Pacific rallies in the final set. Radcliffe had 2 kills in a 7-1 run that reversed a 12-8 deficit, and she erased Vanguard's last lead of the match (22-21) with her seventh kill of the evening before a trio of Lions errors closed out the match with a 25-23 third-set win.

The victory kicked off Azusa Pacific's stretch of 4 consecutive GSAC road matches, which continues on Tuesday (Nov. 3) with a visit to the NAIA's top-ranked Fresno Pacific for a 7 p.m. contest.

Follow Cougar Athletics online with Twitter updates, at twitter.com/APUCougars. Cougar Athletics is also available on all web-enabled devices through Azusa Pacific's mobile website: www.apu.edu/m.