Volleyball Aims for Repeated National Ranking

The Lions’ inconsistent volleyball season continues. Over the last four games, the team has split with two victories and two defeats. The Lions beat bottom-feeders Master’s and Hope International while losing to the more competitive Fresno Pacific and Concordia.

The team defeated Master’s College in straight sets (25-20, 25-19, 25-20) behind strong play from junior Jamie Heenan, who collected 13 kills, while sophomore Lisa Morgan pitched in with 11 kills. Captain Alex Leja totaled 29 assists and 11 digs while the Lions were led by junior libero Ariel Strickler with 13 digs.

Following the victory, the Lions improved to a record of 13-9 overall and 5-8 in GSAC play.

“We play too conservative when we are ahead and need to work on being aggressive the entire match, no matter if we are up or down,” Strickler said.

On Oct. 25, the team hosted the strongest team in conference when Fresno Pacific came to town. The Lions lost in straight sets, only being competitive in the third and final set. The final results were 14-25, 15-25, 21-25 leaving the Lions with a record of 13-10, with a disappointing 5-9 in conference competition.

“We need to realize we have the ability to win all our matches for the season,” Strickler said. “Once our confidence starts to build, our consistency will follow.”

For Vanguard, Leja led both teams with 23 assists in the game and Morgan led the Lion’s with 10 kills in the loss. The team needed a near-perfect game to challenge the Sunbirds, but the errors left the team unable to compete.

“We are all really excited for the possibility of upsetting Cal Baptist against home, and getting ourselves closer to being nationally ranked again,” Morgan said. “We all see this as a big opportunity to change our season.”

The Lions look to defend home court advantage in The Pit against Cal Baptist on Tuesday Oct. 26 before traveling to Azusa Pacific to take on the Cougars Saturday Oct. 30, with both games having a 7 p.m. start time.