SIOUX CITY, Ia. – Fresno Pacific (34-0) will be moving on to the quarterfinals of the NAIA Tournament after Wednesday's win over Point Loma Nazarene (21-12) in straight sets, 25-22, 25-12 and 25-21.
“The whole team played exceptionally well tonight. The second set was the best set we’ve played all year,” Fresno Pacific coach Dennis Janzen said.
The Sunbirds held Point Loma to a .000 hitting percentage in the second set while hitting an impressive .429 with 15 kills and only 3 errors in the second set. They hit .291 for the match.
“We played outstanding defense,” Janzen said.
Janzen pointed out that Keke Wang and
Michelle Johnson did a great job shutting down Point Loma’s top two hitters. Johnson led the Sunbirds with seven blocks while
Lauren Albertson had six blocks coming back from a hip injury. The Sunbirds finished up with 10.5 team blocks to Point Loma’s 4.
Defensively, the Sunbirds had three players with double-digit digs.
Mariah Mandelbaum led with 17 while
Tiffany Marinos and
Martina Gregusova had 15 and 14, respectively.
Gregusova led the Sunbirds in kills with 13 followed by a strong performance from Johnson with 11 kills.
The Sunbirds will finish pool play against Olivet Nazarene at 1:15 p.m. (PST) Thursday (Dec. 3). A win would guarantee the No. 1 seed in the quarterfinals.