AZUSA, Calif. -- Playing in her final regular-season match for Azusa Pacific, senior outside hitter Jill Baker led the NAIA's No. 5-ranked Cougars to a 5-set win over No. 4-ranked Concordia Saturday night at the Felix Event Center.

Baker, who had never been a part of a Cougar win over Concordia during her 4-year career, tallied a season-high 26 kills with 18 digs and a career-high 9 blocks to lead Azusa Pacific to the 25-14, 25-15, 20-25, 22-25, 15-11 win. The victory kept the Cougars perfect in 5-set matches this season (6-0), and it was the third 5-set win in the past 4 matches.

"I'm overwhelmed right now, realizing my career is winding down here," Baker said. "I had never beaten Concordia, so this was a great one to win on my Senior Night. Everyone really stepped up to the challenge and played well, and it was definitely a team effort."

Just as she did in Wednesday's win over Biola, when she tallied 4 straight kills to close out the final set, Baker carried Azusa Pacific to the win with kills for the final 2 Cougar points in front of a loud home crowd filled with Baker's friends and family.

"The fifth set is a time where I want to play like a senior and be able to lead the team," Baker said. "It's not because I want to take any credit for myself, but I'd like to be able to let my team rely on me."

She tallied 6 kills without an error in the fifth set, and she was in on 3 straight blocks that capped a 7-point run for an 8-2 lead early in the set. The Cougars never trailed again, although Concordia twice cut the lead to 2 points (10-8 and 11-9). A Whittany Radcliffe kill and block pushed the lead to 13-9, and Baker's final 2 kills provided the Cougars' 14th and 15th points for the 15-11 win.

"I'm ecstatic that we won on senior night for Jill," Cougar head coach Chris Keife said. "During the fifth set, I looked at both my setters again and told them they better get that ball to Jill. Coming down the wire, I told Raechel (Jones) to let our senior end it."

With the victory, Azusa Pacific finishes in sole possession of third place in the Golden State Athletic Conference with a 15-5 GSAC record, tying the program record for conference wins in a season. The Cougars finish the regular season with a 24-8 overall record. Baker will become just the fourth player in Azusa Pacific history to participate in 3 NAIA Tournaments in her career when the Cougars will officially be announced Sunday as an at-large team in the 2009 NAIA Volleyball National Championship.

"Beating a highly-ranked team shows that we are capable of competing for a title right now," Baker said. "Having that in mind and having it within reach is a great motivator to keep working hard and see how far we can go in nationals."

For the fourth straight match, Azusa Pacific reached double figures in total blocks, turning in 20.5 blocks for its highest single-match total since 2002. In addition, it was the fourth straight match which a Cougar tied or set a new career-high in blocks. Baker's 9 blocks were a career-best, and sophomore middle blocker Ariel Beetstra, who had a career-high 10 blocks Wednesday against Biola, set a new personal best with 11 blocks.

"What we want to do is play to our strengths, which right now is our block and our defense," Keife said. "We're doing a pretty good job with that right now. We need to keep playing to our strengths."

In the opening set, sophomore outside hitter Marguerite Hanna highlighted a nearly-flawless offensive performance, converting 8 attempts into 6 of her 14 kills. The Cougars scored 5 of the first 6 points and never trailed in the set, winning 25-14. Hanna started a 12-1 second-set run with a kill, as Azusa Pacific cruised to the 25-15 win to take a 2-set lead.

"Individually we focus on what our roles are, and for me it's an offensive focus," Hanna said. "If we can individually play our best for our role, we're going to play great as a team."

Concordia battled back into the match as its own blocking picked up. The Eagles stuffed 6 Cougar attacks in the 25-20 third set, and then blocked 4 more to even the match at 2 sets each with a 25-22 fourth-set win. The Eagles broke a 21-21 fourth-set tie with back-to-back blocks, and Serrina Russo finished off the set with 1 of her 13 kills to send the match to the decisive fifth set.

Concordia was led by the 15-kill efforts of Stephanie Darnall and Amber Ridens, with Amy Van Buren leading the Eagles in blocking with 9 blocks. Chelsea Scott registered a match-high 23 digs.

The Cougars will receive an opening-round bye in the NAIA Tournament and go directly into pool play at the final site of the 2009 NAIA Volleyball Women's Championship from Dec. 1-5 in Sioux City, Iowa. Opening round matchups will be announced Sunday, Nov. 15, at www.naia.org.

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