HILO, HAWAI'I -- Azusa Pacific opened its three-match Hawai'i road trip with a four-set win against Hawai'i Hilo Wednesday night, and the Cougars won going away after splitting the first two sets.
 
Junior middle blocker Sara Wagenveld had a huge performance for Azusa Pacific, as she finished with 12 kills and a .632 hitting percentage while also anchoring the defense with five blocks. Freshman outside hitter Katarina Radisic finished with a team-high 15 kills on an efficient .414 hitting percentage. Junior right side hitter Aliyah Morrison also came up big for the Cougars on both sides, adding 10 kills and five blocks as the Cougars finished with 11 team blocks. Senior outside hitter Natalie Klapp and junior middle blocker Julianne Miller each finished with four blocks in the match.
 
The Cougars opened the match with a 25-19 win in the first set. Azusa Pacific turned an early 9-7 advantage into a six-point margin with four straight points, including three consecutive kills and a Hawai'i Hilo attack error. Hawai'i Hilo was unable to cut the lead to anything fewer than four points, as Morrison finished off the first set with a kill.
 
Down 1-0 in the match, Hawai'i Hilo responded with a 25-20 second-set win. Azusa Pacific held a late lead in the set at 19-18 until Hawai'i Hilo took three consecutive points off a service error and attack error, capped off by a kill from Evelin Solyomvari, giving the Vulcans a 21-19 lead. The Cougars responded with a kill from sophomore Amy Hinnant, but Hawai'i Hilo took the next four points to close out the second set by a final of 25-20.
 
Azusa Pacific regained control of the match in the third set with a commanding 25-14 win. With an early 5-4 advantage, the Cougars seized control of the set by taking 11 of the next 13 points, growing their lead to 16-5. The run included three kills each from Hinnant, and Wagenveld.
 
In the fourth set, the Cougars closed out the match in dominant fashion, posting a 25-11 win, including a run in which Azusa Pacific took 13 of the final 15 points of the set. The Cougars did not have an attack error in the fourth set.
 
The four-set win is Azusa Pacific's 20^th victory of the year, giving the program back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 2013 when , when the Cougars posted 10 consecutive seasons with at least 20 victories.
 
The Cougars are now 20-6 overall and lead the PacWest standings with a 16-2 conference record. Azusa Pacific has four more regular season matches, including two tough matches in Hawai'i against Hawai'i Pacific (Nov. 2) and Chaminade (Nov. 3), before returning home to face Dominican (Nov. 9), followed by Senior Day on November 3 at 3:00 p.m. against Notre Dame de Namur.