Four PacWest teams went 2-0 on the weekend, continuing a trend of excellent preseason play. Fresno Pacific used their two wins in Hawaii to improve to 8-0 on the season and win Team of the Week award. Point Loma also won two more with setter Sophia Baugh pacing the offense with 12.5 assists per set, and Hilo's LC Nakamura kept the ball in play all weekend with 46 digs in a pair of matches.
2025 Results/Schedule
2025 Standings
2025 Statistics
2025 AVCA National Poll
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Point Loma's Sophia Baugh, Jr., S, 5-8, Paulsbo, Wash.
Point Loma's Sophia Baugh set the tone for her offense during a pair of non-conference sweeps against PacWest teams Biola and Azusa Pacific. Baugh had 41 assists in a three-set win over the Cougars and added 34 more in three games against the Eagles. That gave the 2024 First Team All-PacWest selection 75 assists for the week, 12.5 per set. The Washington native now averages 11.24 assists per set, which leads the PacWest by a large margin. The Sea Lions are now 8-1 and have won six straight matches.
DEFENDER OF THE WEEK: Hawai`i Hilo's L.C. Nakagawa, Jr., DS/L, 5-7, Mililani, Hawai`i
Hawai`i Hilo's L.C. Nakagawa dug out 23 balls during a three-set victory over Dominican and had 46 on the week. The dig total against the Penguins was the highest total this season in the PacWest for a three-set match. The Academy of Art transfer also had 23 digs in a wild four-set loss to Fresno Pacific, giving her 6.57 digs per set for the week. The 23 digs each were season highs for Oahu native, who ranked fourth in the conference in assists in 2023 and was sixth in 2024 while playing for the Urban Knights.
TEAM OF THE WEEK: Fresno Pacific Sunbirds
Fresno Pacific continued their winning ways with a pair of wins on the always tough Hawai`i road trip. The Sunbirds moved to 8-0, starting with a four-set win at Hawai`i Hilo in front of a sold out crowd of 1,000. The Sunbirds won the marathon first set at 30-28, dropped the second 25-20 and then held off the Vulcans in the next two sets 25-22 and 25-19. FPU then swept Hawai`i Pacific to finish to wrap up the two-match trip. "Great weekend on the road. It's always hard to play Hawaii," said FPU head coach
Kelsee Montagna. "Long trip and even longer days but the team came ready to play. We are so proud of what we have accomplished so far and still have a lot more to do. We are ready to get back home and just keep getting better day by day."
PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: For the third straight weekend, four PacWest teams went unblemished. In addition to
Point Loma and
Fresno Pacific (see above),
Chaminade won a pair against Dominican and Jessup, and
Vanguard took out Menlo and Concordia...Vanguard improved to 8-1 on the season with their wins, joining Point Loma (8-1) and Fresno Pacific (8-0) with the top non-conference records through the first few weeks of the season.
Biola is 7-3,
Concordia 6-3 and
Hawaii Hilo 8-5 to shine in the top half of the standings. That half dozen is 45-13...The first actual PacWest matches are in the books, with Westmont topping Menlo in three sets, while Azusa Pacific took out the Oaks in five games. Chaminade also is 1-0 in league play after beating Jessup in four...
Biola's Kendall Vandertuig had 26 kills in a five-set win over Westmont, and her teammate
Sophia Knevelbaard had 29 digs in the same match ...
Macy Reynolds had 22 digs in a three-set win over Azusa Pacific...
Emily Licon of Menlo had 26 digs in a five-set loss to the Cougars...
Kemyah Harris had 21 kills in a three-set win for Jessup over Hawaii Pacific...APU had the 1-2 punch of
Sarah Wilson (21 kills) and
Flora Sebestyen (20 kills) in the five-setter against Menlo...Fresno Pacific's
Mikayla Weiss topped 1,000 career assists, with 780 of those coming at Fresno State before transferring to play for the Sunbirds.
THIS WEEK IN THE PACWEST: All matches this week are between PacWest teams, but some are still non-conference contests with the unbalanced schedule. To see the complete schedule,
click here.