IRVINE, Calif. -- A preseason NAIA No. 4 national ranking for an Azusa Pacific squad that features just 1 senior and 1 junior may have turned out to be a bit generous. One week after stumbling against an unranked team and another ranked 19 spots below the Cougars in back-to-back matches on the opening day of the Northwestern (Iowa) Red Raider Classic, Azusa Pacific suffered another 4-set upset to an unranked foe.

This time it was a Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) College program that did not receive any votes in the 2009 NAIA Preseason Coaches Poll that scored a 25-17, 20-25, 25-23, 25-17 decision over the Cougars in the opening match of the Asics/Crowne Plaza Labor Day Tournament hosted by Concordia University in Irvine. Azusa Pacific recovered from the upset by salvaging a split on the day with a 26-24, 25-19, 25-23 sweep over University of Great Falls (Mont.).

Still, the damage has been done to Azusa Pacific's national reputation, even though the Cougars play in what is without question the NAIA's toughest volleyball conference, the Golden State Athletic Conference. Only 3 of Azusa Pacific's first 10 opponents are ranked in the NAIA Top 25, and the Cougars' only chance to make a statement against a ranked foe before the brutal 20-match GSAC gauntlet commences comes in Saturday's finale against No. 13 Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) University.

The Cougars got off to a slow start against Lewis-Clark State, committing 7 attack errors in a 25-17 opening-set loss before rebounding for a 25-20 win in the second set to even the match at 1 set apiece. That's when a combination of serving, blocking and hitting errors proved to be Azusa Pacific's undoing. The Cougars gave away 10 points on unforced attack and service errors in a 25-23 third-set defeat, then surrendered a whopping 14 points on 3 blocking errors, 4 service errors and 7 attack errors in a 25-17 fourth set loss.

Outside hitters Jill Baker and Marguerite Hanna combined for 36 kills in the match, with senior Baker leading all hitters with a match-high 19 kills while sophomore Hanna added 17 kills. Despite their efforts, Azusa Pacific committed 14 service errors, 6 blocking errors, and 25 attack errors for a total of 45 points of the match conceded on errors.

Baker again led all hitters against Great Falls, notching a match-high 15 kills to go with 10 digs, and the Cougars' serve showed significant improvement. Sophomore middle blocker Amy Alkazin served a match-high 3 of Azusa Pacific's 8 aces, while the Cougars reduced errors on serves to 6 in the 3-set sweep.

With the split, Azusa Pacific now has a 7-3 overall record in its third week of regular-season competition. The Cougars wrap up the non-conference portion of the schedule Saturday at the Asics/Crowne Plaza Labor Day Tournament at Concordia University, taking on unranked Montana Tech at 9 a.m. and Olivet Nazarene at 5 p.m.

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