LOS ANGELES – LMU women's volleyball (8-1) has won eight straight overall matches the first home match of the season on Thursday, defeating Cal Poly (2-8) in four sets, 25-23, 18-25, 25-17, 25-17.
 
"Our team battled tonight," said Head Coach Aaron Mansfield. "Cal Poly is a great defensive team and they make you earn your points and we had to do that in order to close out the match tonight."
 
LMU jumped ahead 3-0 in the opening set, before Cal Poly took a 9-7 lead. The Lions then rattled off four consecutive points capped off by a pair of aces from Rose Booth. The score remained tight through the set with the two teams holding tie scores between 15-all and 23-all before LMU closed it out with two straight points.
 
The Mustangs controlled the second set, jumping ahead 10-3, 18-9, and 24-15 before winning 25-18.
 
The third game was a set of runs with each team putting together strings of three or four points at a time throughout the set. LMU's 8-2 run to turn a two-point game into a 23-15 lead helped the Lions separate from their opponents en route to victory.
 
Another strong finish allowed the Lions to claim the match in the fourth set. LMU scored 11 of the final 15 points to secure victory in front of the home crowd.
 
Three Lions recorded double-digit kills led by Kari Geissberger's 17. Booth added 13 to go along with her team-high three aces and Audrey Klemp recorded 10.
 
Isabella Bareford totaled 43 of the team's 46 assists.
 
The Lions will now flip roles as the visitors in Saturday's game against Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.