SAN DIEGO – Just 48 hours after seeing their undefeated season and school-record winning streak halted, the Chaminade University women's volleyball team got back on track Wednesday with a convincing four-set win over Point Loma at Golden Gymnasium, 21-25, 25-6, 25-18, 25-15.
Alana Handy (Burlington, Wash./Bethune-Cookman Univ./Burlington-Edison) tallied 18 kills and 20 digs – both season-highs – to improve the Silverswords to 10-1 overall and 4-1 in the Pacific West Conference.
Emma Tecklenburg (Plano, Texas/Plano Senior) rebounded from one of the roughest matches in her collegiate career with 13 kills, six digs and two blocks.
The 'Swords picked up their first-ever win at Point Loma after dropping their three previous matches in Golden Gym. They also handed the Sea Lions their first home loss this season.
Rachael Schlect led PLNU (6-6, 3-2 PacWest) with seven kills.
After being held to just 33 kills and a .057 hitting percentage at Biola on Monday, the Silverswords came out swinging, hitting .328 on the night with 61 kills.
The 'Swords also got their balanced attack back with four others getting six kills or more, led by
Rachel Reedy's (Temple City, Calif./Arcardia) nine kills.
Brooke Bell (Escondido, Calif./North Idaho College/Calvin Christian) put down eight while
Claire Zanon (Beaverton, Ore./Jesuit) and
Terezie Cernosek (Santa Clarita, Calif./Valencia) each had six. Cernosek hit .556 on the night while Zanon hit at a .455 clip, her highest percentile of the season with at least 10 swings. Handy also hit for a high percentage at .378.
Chaminade also forced 22 PLNU attack errors and surrendered a .017 percentage, the lowest by an opponent this season.
Danielle Wiley (Peoria, Ariz./Centennial) and
Skyler Curry (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Westlake) went for 27 and 24 assists, respectively.
Zanon and
Nina Torio (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani) each had 10 digs while the 'Swords' block proved to be a factor with nine total team blocks. Bell had a match-high five blocks while Cernosek and Handy had three each. Wiley and Tecklenburg added two aces each.
After dropping the first set, Chaminade went on a 12-0 run in Set 2, turning a two-point lead into an 18-4 advantage with Tecklenburg at the service line for 11 consecutive points.
A 7-1 run towards the ending of the third set helped give Chaminade the match lead then a 5-0 run in the middle of the final set helped end the match.
Chaminade also held a decisive advantage in assists (59-23) and digs (59-42). The six points allowed in the second set is also the fewest allowed in a single set since rally-scoring was reduced from 30 to 25 points in 2008.
The Silverswords will face PacWest preseason favorite and current conference leader Azusa Pacific (10-4, 6-0 PacWest) on Thursday. Both teams are among those receiving votes in the latest AVCA Top-25 Poll.
