AZUSA, Calif. - Conference wins rarely come easy, and that proved to be the case on Thursday night in the Felix Event Center, as Azusa Pacific held off a comeback attempt from Academy of Art to capture a 3-1 win (25-16, 26-24, 18-25, 25-22) in the PacWest opener.
It was a balanced offensive attack for the Cougars, with six players recording seven or more kills in the match. Annaka Jorgenson finished with a team-high 15, Sarah Wilson had 13, Kendyl Macaskill set a career-high with 11 kills, and Kyra Palmbush added 10 kills, including six in the first set to set the tone for the Cougars. Maggie Nielsen finished with a season-high 29 assists. Defensively, Mackenzie Jensen finished with a match-high five block assists.
How It Happened: Azusa Pacific never trailed in the first set, and an Urban Knights service error early in the set (5-4) put the Cougars ahead for the remainder of the opening frame. The Cougars put down 20 kills in the first set on 40 attempts, and they committed just one attack error for a team hitting percentage of .475.
The second set saw the two teams trading unanswered runs, and there were a total of seven lead changes during the second. Late in the set, the Urban Knights looked to be pulling away from the Cougars, as the visitors were up 22-19. Azusa Pacific was able to fight back to tie it at 23-23 on a Macaskill kill, but a kill by Academy of Art's Maya McClellan gave the Urban Knights set point at 24-23. After an Urban Knights service error tied it back up at 24, Macaskill put the Cougars ahead with her third kill of the set, and a block by Macaskill and Jensen provided an exclamation point to close out the set for the 26-24 win and a 2-0 match lead.
With the score tied at 16-16 in the third, Academy of Art went on a 6-0 run to surge ahead 22-16, and the Cougars would not get closer than five over the remainder of the set. The third set win for the Urban Knights fired them up, and they opened the fourth set on a 6-0 unanswered streak. With the visitors in full control of the energy and momentum of the match, Academy of Art opened up a lead as large as 11 at 16-5. With the score at 18-8 in favor of the Urban Knights, the Cougars started to regain their composure, scoring five unanswered to get it back within five at 18-13. After Academy of Art pushed it back up to eight at 21-13, the Cougars took over in a huge way, as three consecutive kills by Jorgenson jump started a 13-1 run that saw Azusa Pacific roar back and overtake the lead, eventually capturing a 25-22 win to close out the match.
By the Numbers: Azusa Pacific finished with a season-best hitting percentage of .312, as the Cougars combined for 64 kills on 170 attempts, committing their second-lowest total of attack errors at 11. Across all four sets, there were a total of 26 ties and 11 lead changes. Azusa Pacific is now 13-3 all-time against Academy of Art, and the Cougars have won the last 11 matches that the two programs have played. During that streak, Azusa Pacific has won 33 of the 35 sets played over the 11 matches.
Up Next: Azusa Pacific will be back in action on Saturday, when it hosts Dominican in the Felix Event Center for the second PacWest conference match of the season. First serve for Saturday is scheduled for 3:00 pm.
