Opening a crucial four-game homestand on Thursday night, LMU volleyball (19-7, 9-6 WCC) turned in a dominant performance, controlling the match en route to posting a 25-23, 25-15, 25-15 sweep over Portland (18-10, 6-10 WCC) from Gersten Pavilion.
BOX SCORE NOTES
Senior
Sara Kovac led all players with 14 kills on 26 attacks to record a .462 hitting percentage … Kovac also added a service ace and one block assist … the Lions served up eight aces in the win, including four from
Tess Reid … Reid had three of her four in the second set, as LMU tallied five in that period … Reid also added 28 assists and eight digs to accompany two block assists … the Lions hit .258 as a team while holding Portland to just .063 hitting … LMU also won the blocking battle, recording 7.5 to Portland's 5.0 … no Pilot player finished with double-digit kills, as Izzy Guzik collected nine … the first set was the closest of the three despite LMU hitting for a match-high .293 clip.
LION NOTES
With the win, LMU swept the season series with Portland … the Lions are now 30-2 at home against Portland (last loss: 11/4/89) … LMU is now 16-0 when winning the first set this year … LMU has recorded at least two aces in all but one match this year … the sweep was LMU's ninth of the year … LMU is now 3-0 at home on Thursdays this season … the Lions improve to 6-1 at home overall this season.
PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS
LMU still has three home matches remaining to be played in Gersten Pavilion … members of LMU's Little Lions Club get into all LMU home volleyball matches as part of the membership, while students, faculty and staff with a valid One Card also receive free General Admission access to every home match … to purchase season or single-game tickets, please contact the LMU Box Office at 310-338-5466 or visit
LMULions.com/buywvb.
QUOTABLE
"After not competing for 12 days, I was really proud of our team's effort and execution tonight. Portland is a good team and we were able to neutralize their offense with our serving and offensively we were very efficient. It was great to see some specific things we have been working on in practice play a role in tonight's win." – Head coach
Aaron Mansfield.
NEXT ROTATION
LMU will continue the four-match homestand on Saturday, welcoming Gonzaga to Gersten Pavilion for a 1 p.m. match … the Lions will then host Pepperdine on Sunday at 1 p.m. in a makeup match before closing out the regular season with a 7 p.m. match against #1 BYU on Tuesday … all three matches can be watched on TheW.tv with live stats found at LMULions.com.
