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Kristen Castellanos served up six of LMU's 12 aces on Saturday afternoon as the #21 LMU volleyball team (2-0) worked its way past Niagara (0-2) by scores of 27-29, 25-20, 25-14, 25-17 from the LMU Invitational.

In addition to Castellanos' six, with four coming in the opener, Tess Reid and Sarah Sponcil each chipped in a pair of aces. Sponcil also recorded a match-high 20 digs, finishing with a double-double after teaming the digs with 12 kills on 18 swings for a .556 hitting percentage.

For the second straight match, Jamie Lea led the way on the attack, posting 15 kills on 39 swings.

Freshman Tess Reid served as the primary setter for LMU, dishing out 42 assists to go along with 10 digs for her second double-double in as many matches.

The Lions dropped a hard-fought 29-27 first set, but rebounded nicely to take the final three and capture the match. LMU hit .314 in the second set, its highest mark for the day, to help finish with a .230 overall hitting percentage for the match.

LMU also managed to limit the success of Niagara's attack throughout the match, holding the Purple Eagles to a .092 hitting percentage over the course of the four sets. The mark included a sub-.100 clip in each of the final two sets.

LMU will advance to play #12 UCLA (2-0) tonight in the Tournament Championship. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Gersten Pavilion, and the first 200 fans will receive a Sweet 16 Commemorative Drinking Mug.

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