Women's Volleyball

Lancers Come Back For The 29th

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – California Baptist picked up its 29th consecutive win of the season, but as head coach Branden Higa noted, the 29th wasn’t like the first 28.
 
“My reaction is: welcome to the NCAA postseason,” Higa said.
 
The No. 1 Lancers (29-0) survived a scare from No. 8 Sonoma State, coming back from a 2-1 deficit to win in five sets (21-25, 25-23, 26-28, 25-18 and 15-9) in the NCAA West Regional quarterfinals on Thursday night.

BOX SCORE
 
Following the victory, the Lancers will advance to play CCAA Champion and No. 4 seed Cal State San Bernardino on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. California Baptist defeated the Coyotes in the first meeting, winning 3-0 in Anchorage, Alaska in September.
 
PacWest Setter of the Year Sydney Kralj facilitated a Lancer offense that had a .273 hitting percentage in the match, racking up 53 assists in the victory. Lauren Hackett led the squad in kills with 21 to go along with 14 digs for the double-double.
 
The Seawolves took the first set 25-21 and led in the second set 23-20, but the Lancers rebounded by rattling off five points in a row to even the match at a set apiece. California Baptist had three set points in the third set, but Sonoma State came out on top of three long rallies before converting its own set point to win the third set.
 
California Baptist showed why it was No. 1 seed in the West Region with its back against the wall in the final two sets. The Lancers cruised to a 25-18 win in the fourth set and then won nine points in a row in the fifth set on McKenna Witt’s serve for a commanding lead before winning it 15-9. Witt finished the match with 17 kills, 14 digs and a team-high .333 hitting percentage.
 
This was the Lancers’ first postseason victory in program history in the NCAA. They are now 5-0 this year against CCAA teams going into Friday’s semifinal.
 
The other semifinal will feature GNAC champion and No. 2 seed Western Washington against No. 3 Northwest Nazarene in the third meeting this season between the two teams. Western Washington advanced with a four-set win over Alaska Anchorage in a rematch of last year’s regional final. Northwest Nazarene won the first quarterfinal of the day against No. 6 Central Washington, winning the fifth set 15-8 to stay alive.