HONOLULU--In a match befitting of two heavyweights slugging it out in a championship bout, Fresno Pacific outlasted Point Loma for the 2025 Pacific West Conference Championship in five sets.

In a marathon that featured 42 tied scores and 18 lead changes, Fresno Pacific emerged with the conference tournament title after a two hour and 26 minute slugfest. The final tally from McCabe Gymnasium was 17-25, 27-25, 25-12, 14-25, 27-25. 

This comes less than a week after Point Loma edged the Sunbirds in five sets in San Diego to share the conference regular season title. 

"It sort of feels like the twilight zone," said Sea Lion head coach Jonathan Scott. "Just one long continuous match that was fought out point by point over a weeks time."

The irony is, that the top two teams in the PacWest could ultimately face each other again in the NCAA West Regional tournament in early December as well.

"I have never seen or been a part of match quite like this, especially in the fifth set," said Fresno Pacific coach Kelsee Montagna. "Emotionally, that's what you sign up for, it's why you coach and play to be in a match like that."

And what a match it was. 

Point Loma took the first set 25-17, scoring the last six points of the set. The Sea Lions also had set point in the second set at 24-23 before the Sunbirds stayed alive with a kill and a block by Geneva Elliott and a putaway by Cambria Waites to rally for the 27-25 win. 

The third and fourth sets were anomalies in this rivalry, with the Sunbirds rolling to an easy 25-12 win in the third and Point Loma doing the same in the fourth with a 25-14 verdict. That set up the epic fifth set, which is designed to end when the first team reaches 15 points.

It went far beyond that.

With 18 ties and 11 lead changes in that set alone, FPU finally won out after a combined 12 match points on either side. After an Elliott kill gave the Sunbirds a 26-25 margin, an attack error ended the match at 27-25.

"It was a very physical match, and that's what we work on every day in practice," Montagna added. "Our girls work so hard and they love each other so much. They have so much grit and they trust each other to their jobs."

Point Loma coach Scott added similar thoughts. "That's why we play and coach this game, for moments like this," he said. "I am so proud of these girls, I am a lucky guy to be where I am and coaching them."

Both teams will play on in less than two weeks. Point Loma came into the match as the No. 1 ranked team in the West Region, while FPU sits at No. 4. The site and seeds for the NCAA tournament will be announced on Monday. The Sea Lions will wait for the selection show with a 24-4 record, while the Sunbirds sit at 25-1. 

Waites, the tournament MVP, led the Sunbirds 16 kills and she had 15 digs. Madelyn Fermisco added 30 digs, Devyn Castaneda had 29 and Elliott had eight total blocks. Point Loma was led by Hailey Clark with 18 kills, Saren Rogers had 15 and Jill Leslie added 14. Macy Reynolds had 29 digs, and Sophia Baugh had 22 digs and 55 assists. 

All-Tournament Team
MVP-Cambria Waites, Fresno Pacific
*Tabby Allen, Chaminade
* Chase Koepke, Hawaii Hilo
*Geneva Elliott, Fresno Pacific
*Saren Rogers, Point Loma
*Mikayla Weiss, Fresno Pacific
*Sophia Baugh, Point Loma