AZUSA, Calif. -- The Cougar volleyball team's quest for a third-consecutive PacWest title got off to a positive start with a four-set victory over Academy of Art (24-26, 25-16, 25-17, 25-18) Friday evening inside the Felix Event Center. Katarina Radisic led the way with 19 kills while Annaka Jorgenson added in 16 of her own.
How It Happened: The opening set was a competitive affair, with neither side leading by more than four points at any time. Academy of Art utilized a 6-1 run to take a lead late, only to see the Cougars respond with a 7-2 run of their own to retake the lead at 23-22. From there, the Urban Knights' Isaura Santos took over the set with four kills down the stretch to take the lead. A hitting error by the Cougars gave Academy of Art a final 26-24 margin.
Having allowed 19 kills in the opening set, the Cougars roared out of the gate in the second, opening the set with an 11-4 run and never trailing at any point. Radisic had four kills in the set to help build a lead which would grow to as many as 12 points at 23-11. The Cougars would record 14 kills against just two errors in the set, pulling even in the match with a 25-16 victory.
The Cougars would never trail at any point in the third set either. Radisic again proved decisive, recording six kills and two service aces in the set. The Cougars hit .455 as a team in the set, accruing 18 kills against three errors on just 33 total attacks in the frame. Jorgenson's fourth kill of the set earned the decisive point to put the Cougars ahead two sets to one.
Academy of Art opened the fourth set on a brief 4-1 run to try to force a winner-take-all fifth, but the Cougars answered back with five straight points, including two of Jorgenson's seven kills in the final frame. With the set tied at 9-9, Radisic came up with back-to-back kills of her own to put Azusa Pacific in front for good, and the Cougars would win six of the final seven points to pull away for the victory.
By the Numbers: Radisic and Jorgenson each had double-doubles, finishing with 12 and 16 digs, respectively. Radisic also added four aces while serving. The Cougars hit .355 as a team for the match, while holding the Urban Knights to a .188 percentage. Kyra Palmbush added in 10 kills and factored into five of the team's six blocks on the evening. Bailey Hennington came up with 21 digs defensively, giving her 2,186 for her career, which is the second-most in program history behind Robin Portela, who totaled 2,318 from 2008-11.
Up Next: The Cougars (6-3, 1-0 PacWest) will be right back in action Saturday afternoon, when they host Fresno Pacific in the Felix Event Center. The game can be streamed live by clicking here, and livestats will be available at this link.
POSTGAME INTERVIEW - ANNAKA JORGENSON & KATARINA RADISIC
