HILO, Hawai'i - Azusa Pacific fought its way to a come-from-behind five set victory on Wednesday night at Hawai'i Hilo, as the Cougars overcame a 0-2 match deficit.
A trio of Cougars led the way offensively, Annaka Jorgenson tallying a match-high 18 kills, Kyra Palmbush added 12 kills with a .478 hitting percentage (23 attempts), and Kaitlin Craig posted 12 kills. Aubrea Banfield dished out 45 assists, just one shy of her season high, while she also recorded a team-high five service aces. Defensively, Hailey Patino finished with a match-best 28 digs, and Banfield and Palmbush each led the Cougars in blocks with three block assists each.
How It Happened: The Cougars found themselves down 11-17 in the first set, and while the visitors would battle back and draw even at 18-18, the Vulcans would hang on for the eventual 25-22 opening set win.
Other than a 2-2 tie early, Hawai'i Hilo would hold the lead for essentially the entire second set. After the Vulcans took their biggest lead of the set at 14-7, the Cougars would work their way back to pull within a point late at 18-19, but once again, Hawai'i Hilo would hold off the visitors and win 25-20 to take a 2-0 match lead.
Azusa Pacific would flip the momentum of the match in the third set, winning in dominant fashion at 25-15. The Cougars took the first four points of the set and never looked back, growing their lead to as large as 13 at 22-9. After posting hitting percentages of .171 (first set) and .200 (second set), the Cougars started to find their rhythm offensively, posting a .310 hitting percentage with 11 kills on 29 attempts and just two attack errors. Azusa Pacific also had three service aces in the set, with two from Jorgenson and one from Banfield.
The Cougars carried their third set performance into the fourth, as they did not trail in the set and kept the Vulcans at bay by maintaining a cushion of two or three points throughout to draw even at 2-2 in the match with a 25-22 triumph.
The Vulcans regained momentum to start the fifth and final set, jumping out to a quick 5-1 lead which forced an Azusa Pacific timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Cougars took three straight points to pull within one at 4-5, and while Hilo answered with back-to-back kills, a kill by Jorgenson jump started a 5-0 run for the Cougars that flipped the score into a 9-7 Azusa Pacific advantage. Azusa Pacific would maintain the lead for the remainder of the set, and the Cougars completed the comeback with Palmbush kill for a 15-12 victory.
By the Numbers: The Cougars finished the match with 12 service aces, which sets a new season-high in the category. In addition to Banfield's five aces, Jorgenson recorded four, Kelsie Bothoff added two, and Maggie Nielsen had a service ace. Azusa Pacific also finished with 94 digs, which is a season-best effort as well. Offensively, the Cougars finished with a team hitting percentage of .214, totalling 56 kills on 182 attempts, while committing 17 attack errors. On the other side of the net, the Vulcans finished with 32 kills on 91 attempts and 21 errors, for a percentage of .121.
Up Next: Azusa Pacific (13-11 overall, 9-6 PacWest) continues its three match trip in Hawai'i with a meeting at PacWest-leader Chaminade on Friday (Oct. 28) at 7:00 pm HT (10:00 pm PT).
