AZUSA, Calif. – Azusa Pacific beat visiting Holy Names in straight-sets on Saturday afternoon, improving its record to 6-6 overall and 2-1 in PacWest conference play.
Katarina Radisic and Annaka Jorgenson each finished in double figures for kills, with Radisic tallying 14 and Jorgenson finishing with 12. Kyra Palmbush finished with a pair of solo blocks and four block assists to lead the Cougars defensively. Aubrey Banfield was a factor on both sides of the net, posting 32 assists and three block assists.
How It Happened: The Cougars had to come-from-behind in each of the three sets played this afternoon, as Holy Names led by as many as five points in each set.
The Hawks opened the contest by claiming the first five points of the opening set, and they would maintain that cushion over the next few minutes of action. Down 15-10, the Cougars would score eight unanswered points to surge ahead 18-15. Radisic recorded three kills during the stretch. Holy Names would not regain the lead in the set, and Azusa Pacific took the 1-0 match lead with a 25-20 set win.
In the second set, the Hawks had worked their way out to a 12-7 lead. A couple of minutes later, Holy Names was still up 15-13. The Cougars once again would overcome the deficit to gain the lead, winning four of the next five points to go up 17-16. While Holy Names would take the next point to tie it at 17-17, a Hawks' service error was followed by a Radisic kill, a service ace by Kelsie Bothof, and three consecutive Holy Names attack errors that put the Cougars up 23-17. The Hawks would get no closer than four, and the Cougars once again earned a 25-20 set victory.
With Holy Names up 12-7 in the third set, the Cougars won five straight points to knot the score at 12. While the Hawks would regain the lead at 13-12, it was their last lead of the match. Later in the set, Azusa Pacific went up 22-18, but a run by Holy Names shrunk the margin down to just one at 22-21. Back-to-back errors from the Hawks gave the Cougars match point at 24-21, and a few moments later, a Palmbush kill closed out the set and match for a 25-22 win.
By The Numbers: For the fourth time this season, the Cougars finished a match at a team hitting percentage of .300 or better, as they had 43 kills on 103 attempts with just 12 errors for a percentage of .301. Defensively, Azusa Pacific had its best match of the season at the net, finishing with 12 total blocks. The Cougars have now claimed each of their six victories in straight-set fashion. Cougar head coach Chris Keife is now just two wins shy of 400 victories at Azusa Pacific, as he has a career record of 398-186 (.661) in his 19th season at the helm of the program.
Up Next: The Cougars will head to Concordia next Friday, September 23, for a 7:00 pm match. Entering play on Saturday morning, Concordia had a 6-4 overall record, and a perfect 3-0 conference mark. For those unable to make it out to Irvine, the game can be watched live here.
POSTGAME INTERVIEW: KYRA PALMBUSH & KATARINA RADISIC
