AZUSA, Calif. – Azusa Pacific needed a night like this.

On the heels of playing 7 nationally-ranked teams in the past 9 matches, the Cougars welcomed a contest in which they could cruise, and San Diego Christian played the perfect foil.

The NAIA's No. 10-ranked Azusa Pacific used set runs of 12-3, 13-4 and 11-5 to run away from San Diego Christian and post an easy 3-set Golden State Athletic Conference victory, 25-16, 25-11 and 25-16, in the Felix Event Center Tuesday evening.

Other than an 11-9 first-set deficit and 1-0 hole to start the second set, Azusa Pacific never trailed, riding the powerful right arm of All-American Jill Baker to their second conference victory in 3 attempts this season. Baker tallied a match-high 18 kills, an even 6 in each set, and 8 other Cougars registered a least 1 kill to lead an effective Cougar attack.

"We were pretty efficient tonight," said Azusa Pacific head coach Chris Keife. "We mixed-and-matched some different line-ups and yet were still able to limit ourselves to just 9 errors, which is pretty good. We were able to get everyone into the match, which is always a plus when everybody can contribute."

Azusa Pacific hit a fine .313 clip, tallying 40 kills in just 99 attempts. Sophomore Whittany Radcliffe added 6 kills, and fellow sophomore Ariel Beetstra best epitomized the Cougar attack with 5 kills in just 6 attempts.

The Hawks didn't help themselves with 22 attack errors, and in fact it was their sloppy play that turned the tide for a slow-starting set of Cougars. Up 11-9 in the opening set, SDCC committed 4 errors and was whistled for consecutive bad sets to ignite a 12-3 Cougar run that was capped by a Baker kill to give Azusa Pacific a commanding 21-14 advantage.

Behind successive kills from Radcliffe, Beetstra and Baker, the Cougars rolled out to a 6-2 lead to start the second set and methodically expanded the lead to as much as 13 at 24-11 following freshman Jenn Gaines' only kill of the night.

The Hawks kept the third set close for the first minutes of play before Azusa Pacific turned a 9-8 lead into a comfortable 20-14 margin following Beetstra's final kill of the night. Back-to-back Radcliffe kills finished off the match and completed 69 minutes of work for the Cougars.

The Cougars picked up 10 points off blocks, led by 5 assist blocks each for Baker and Amy Alkazin. Baker also registered a match-high 16 digs. Sophomore Robin Portela chipped in with 14.

"We blocked and defended very well tonight, and those are 2 things we did better tonight than we did in our 2 matches last week," said Keife.

Azusa Pacific has now won 19 straight matches over San Diego Christian and has not dropped a set to the Hawks in the past 31 played. With the victory the Cougars improve to 11-4 overall, 2-1 in GSAC play. San Diego Christian falls to 8-6 overall, 0-3 in the GSAC.

"Now we move back into the grueling part of the conference," said Keife. "We can't take a night off."

Azusa Pacific takes to the road for its next 2 matches, visiting No. 7 Point Loma Nazarene on Saturday (Sept. 19) and No. 19 Biola on Tuesday (Sept. 22).