AZUSA, Calif. -- Playing their first home game in 37 days, the Azusa Pacific volleyball team maintained its hold on first place in the PacWest with a straight-set victory over Point Loma (25-20, 25-21, 25-18) Friday evening at the Felix Event Center.  Katarina Radisic led the way offensively with 11 kills for the home team.

How it Happened:  The first set saw the Cougars take an early lead thanks to an 8-2 run and would lead most of the way during the set.  Radisic had consecutive aces early in the run.  While the Sea Lions would rally to tie the set at 17-17, Azusa Pacific would again pull away with a decisive 5-0 run, as three different Cougars came up with a kill on consecutive points served by Selena Balderas, who then followed those kills up with an ace of her own.  Back-to-back kills from Radisic and Kyra Palmbush would finish off the opening set.

Point Loma made its stand in the middle of the second set, going on an 11-2 run of their own to seemingly take control of the second set, leading 19-12 at one point.  But one mishit by the Sea Lions got the Cougars to a great spot in their service rotation, as Mina Andjelkovic got the Cougars back into the match by serving up a 5-0 run that was punctuated by the team's first block of the night and saw Point Loma burn both of their timeouts for the set.  The Cougars would end up with four blocks during what would be a 13-2 finishing kick in the set, with Palmbush and Kaitlin Craig teaming up for consecutive blocks to close it out, 25-21.

The Cougars stormed out of the gate in the third set, opening on a 10-3 run and stretching the lead to as much as 18-9.  After a Point Loma run cut that lead to two points, the Cougars calmly closed the evening out with another 5-0 run, highlighted by Balderas' third ace of the match.

By the Numbers:  Balderas and Radisic each had three aces to lead the serving attack for the Cougars, who had nine as a team.  While Radisic led the team with 11 kills, Palmbush had nine of her own without an error, hitting .529 for the match.  As a team, the Cougars hit .234 on the evening while holding Point Loma to .088, including just .025 over the final two sets.  Craig had a solo block and two block assists up front for the Cougars, who had five blocks in all.  Radisic led the defense with 16 digs, while Bailey Henington added to her PacWest career record with 14 of her own.  The Cougars complete a season sweep of the Sea Lions after splitting the home-and-home in the abbreviated season last spring.