AZUSA, Calif. – After a rough finish to the opening set, Azusa Pacific woke up and ran away from Occidental, defeating the Tigers three sets to one (21-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-8) Tuesday evening at the Felix Event Center.
The Cougars jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in the opening set, and would regain similar leads multiple times, as late as 20-16. But their offense hit a rough patch at that moment, committing five errors over the final nine points of the set as the Tigers mounted an 8-1 run to claim the opener, 25-21.
The second set saw the Tigers overcome another early Azusa Pacific lead to take a 19-16 lead of their own. But the entire match seemed to turn on a simple service error. That put the ball in the hands of Hunter Kwan, who would serve the next eight points, which saw the Cougars cobble together three kills, a block, an ace, and two Tiger errors to go up 24-19. While Occidental would staff off three set points, a Jacey Loewen kill would level the match.
After the teams traded the first 12 points of the third set, another Tiger service error gave the Cougars the lead, and this time, they would not look back. Jackie Winfield had three of her game-high 15 kills as part of a 7-0 run. Following a short Tiger run to cut the lead to 13-10, Winfield had another hat trick of kills on consecutive plays as part of a 9-1 run to put the set away.
The fourth set saw the Cougars put together a fully dominant effort, opening and closing the set with 9-1 scoring runs while holding Occidental to a -.156 hitting percentage for the set.
Winfield had 15 kills to pace the offense, while Taylor Klatt added 11. Mia Medrano led the back row with 15 digs, while Flora Sebestyen had 13 and Kwan 12. Loewen served up four of the Cougars' 9 aces on the evening while also participating in 5 blocks (1 solo, 4 assists).
The Cougars (22-2) are now 9-2 against SCIAC opposition this season, though those are not considered conference games this season. They will look to add to the win column on Saturday when they visit Redlands. First serve is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
