Aug. 29, 2009

Box Score

FORT WORTH, Texas - LMU (2-0) continued to play quality all-around volleyball on Saturday morning, defeating Arkansas (0-2) in three sets, 25-16, 25-14, 25-19. The Lions, who hit .459 yesterday against Grambling State to open the season, continued right where they left off on Saturday, connecting at a solid .382 pace against the Razorbacks. Freshman Alaina Bergsma was the standout from the excellent team effort, collecting a match-high 20 kills on 30 attacks for an incredible .600 hitting percentage. Enjoying a stellar match across the board, Bergsma collected three service aces, eight digs and teamed with Megan Nash for two block assists to total 24 points.

Offensively, the Lions had plenty of options, including eight kills from freshman Felicia Arriola, seven from stellar sophomore Ariana Covington, six from Nash and five from the middle in Becky Stehling. Both Stehling and Nash hit .500 on the match, taking sets from Alesha Young, who collected a season-best 40 assists to help the Lions to the incredible hitting percentage. Sophomore libero Lauren DeGrandmont played her position well in the match, recording a match and career-high 12 digs. Along with Bergsma's three, Arriola and sophomore Diana Hiromoto each collected a service ace in the win.

Amanda Anderson paced the Razorback offense, connecting for a .600 attack percentage and 10 kills in her own right. Lindsay Scanlan dished-out 23 assists in the loss, as Arkansas was held to just a .165 hitting percentage.

The two teams competed to a 4-4 stalemate early before LMU went on a small run to take an 8-5 advantage on three straight kills from Bergsma. The Razorbacks would not let the Lions run too far, narrowing the deficit to 12-10 on a kill by Anderson. Bergsma continued to shine on the swing, collecting one of her set-high five kills for point number 15. LMU advanced what was a small lead to five points at 17-12 on back-to-back attack errors, forcing the first Razorback timeout of the match. The timeout served its purpose as Arkansas stopped what was a three-point swing for the Lions out of the break. Arkansas continued to struggle over the next few points, allowing one of Stehling's five match kills and committing a bad set to run the tally to 19-13, forcing its final timeout. The pause in play did little to slow the Lion charge as a kill by Bergsma, an attack error and a LMU block ran the total to 22-14. After Covington spiked a ball off of an Arkansas defender's head for the 23rd point of the set, Bergsma capped the frame with back-to-back service aces. The Lions hit .379 (13-2/29) in the first set, led by Bergsma who hit .833 with no errors.

Arriola and the Lions came out hot in the second set, jumping-out to a 5-1 advantage, highlighted by a pair of kills from Arriola. LMU maintained the fairly comfortable lead over the next few points, advancing the deficit to five on Bergsma's third ace of the match at 11-6. The Lions kept the pressure on from there, winning three of the next five points, capped by kills from Arriola and Bergsma, to take a 14-8 lead and force a Razorback timeout. Arkansas saw the Lions run even further down the stretch as LMU took an 18-11 lead on a Bergsma kill, resulting in the final Arkansas timeout of the set. LMU won a lengthy rally for point 19 on a Nash kill before advancing to 20 on a block from Bergsma and Nash. The duo continued the Lion onslaught on the block after a Razorback attack error, teaming for back-to-back stuffs for points 22 and 23. Another attack error ran the set to its final point at 24-12 en route to the 25-14 victory on Bergsma's set-high tying fourth kill. Arkansas, which hit .194 (11-5/31) in the first set, continued to err in the second, posting a percentage of .088 (9-6/34). On the other hand, the Lions hit .382 (14-1/34) and picked-up the blocking effort to ensure the set victory.

The third set once again started close, as the teams were knotted at three points apiece after the first six tallies had been registered. After continuing the stalemate to five points, Arkansas went on a two-point swing to take a 7-5 advantage. The Lions refused to surrender any momentum from the first two sets, evening the score and continuing to match the Razorback attack to 9-9, where they promptly won the next two points to take an 11-9 advantage and force the first timeout. An Arriola kill and another Arkansas attack error pushed the score to 15-11 in favor of the Lions out of the break. Bergsma made it 17-12 shortly thereafter, but Arkansas slowly crept closer with three of the next four points to make it 18-15. Not wanting the match to stretch to another set, the Lions quickly rebounded on consecutive kills from Bergsma, leaving the score at 20-15 and resulting in the final Arkansas timeout of the match. The Razorbacks responded well to the breather, scoring the next two points out of the huddle, but the Lions were too much in the end, fittingly earning the 25-19 victory and a sweep of the match on a Bergsma kill. The freshman from Chandler, Ariz. managed 11 of her 20 kills in the final set alone, hitting .625 on 16 attacks en route to leading LMU to a .385 hitting percentage (21-6/39).

The Lions will play for the Tournament Championship tonight against host TCU at 5:00 p.m. PT