HONOLULU, Hawaii – In a match with as many twists, turns and swings as you could have in a volleyball, the Cougars prevailed.
Azusa Pacific handed Chaminade just their second home loss of the season with a heart pounding 3-2 (25-23, 21-25, 25-14, 20-25, 15-13) decision.
"That was one of our most emotional matches this season. We went into it knowing how important it was for standings in the PacWest as well as a possible postseason berth," outside hitter Joy Reinke said. "To be able to get momentum that we have right as the season gets to the final phases is really important."
The win moves the Cougars to just two matches back in the loss column from first-place California Baptist in a tightly contested battle for first place in the PacWest. In addition to the win for the league standings, it is the third time in five yearly trips to the Hawaiian Islands that the Cougar will leave with at least two wins. On Saturday afternoon Azusa Pacific closes this three-match stretch against second-place BYU-Hawaii.
In Friday's win the Cougars spread the offense around, served well and played incredible defense.
Reinke had a team high 15 kills while Mattie Shelford chipped-in an 11-kill performance. The duo of Natalie Klapp and Ashley Midland each had 10 kills.
On the defensive side of the ledger, Ashley Swatek had 20 digs while Alyssa Tavera and Klapp contributed 16 and 12 respectively along the back lines. The Cougar block was also huge which was led by Midland's nine block assists. Crystal Dedes also got into the action with four block assists and a block solo.
"That's a really good volleyball team we beat tonight. That's was one of the best defensive battles I've seen us play. We took their hard hits and best attacks and turned them into points. When push came to shove we really earned our points," head coach Chris Keife said. "That was a lot of fun to have four players with double digit kills tonight. That's great to balance. And specifically it was a lot of fun to watch Joy go out there and play the way she did."
A majority of the first set was played without either team gathering much momentum until the frame's halfway point. Tied at 13-13, the Cougars scored three straight points on Kristina Kam's service to force a Chaminade timeout. Moments later Natalie Klapp slammed down her second kill of the frame to boost the Cougars lead to 20-15. Despite being down 24-20, the Silverswords inched within one point of tying the set but Ashley Midland ended it with a kill into the back right corner for her teams best fifth termination of the stanza.
Azusa Pacific continued their strong execution as they scored seven of the first 10 points to start the second set. However, the home team found life and responded with six straight points. After back-to-back kills from Mattie Shelford the Cougars tied the match at 13-13. The narrowly played stanza continued until, with match knotted at 20-20, Chaminade finished the set on a 5-1 scoring spurt to even the match at a set each.
After a back-and-fourth start to the third set the Cougars began to flex their muscle. Leading 12-11, Azusa Pacific dominated the next 17 points to secure the stanza win and pull within a set of the match victory. During the third set the Cougars doubled-up Chaminade in total kills (14-7) as Chaminade hit -.031 in the frame.
The fourth set proved to be a set a big scoring runs. Chaminade started it with a vengeance by winning 11 of the first 15 points. Yet Azusa Pacific responded with their own authority by winning eight straight points to tie the set at 11-each. The give-and-take continued as the Silverswords increased their lead to 18-14. A final burst for the Cougars saw them even-up the frame at 18-18 but the home team forced a deciding set by finishing the frame on a 7-2 scoring spurt.
In the decisive final frame the Cougars raced out to a 4-0 edge and never relented their lead. However, Chaminade didn't go down without a fight as they pulled with two points twice at 11-9 and again at 12-10 then saved two straight match points. But Azusa Pacific owned this night as they clinched the match when Midland denied an attack by Keani Passi, the Silverswords top player, with a block.
The Cougars have now won four straight conference matches as they up their record to 11-9 overall and 7-4 in league matches.
