FRESNO, Calif. – LMU women's volleyball picked up a pair of wins on Saturday to finish Fresno State's tournament unbeaten. The Lions (4-1) topped UC Riverside 3-1 before closing the day with a 3-0 sweep over CSUN. LMU won the final six sets of the day after dropping the opening set against the Highlanders.
 
"Playing three matches in a little over 24 hours is not an easy thing to do, and our players handled the challenge really well in Fresno," said Head Coach Aaron Mansfield. "We continue to see many of the things that are developing in our practice environment come to life in matches. The more that takes place, the clearer our players are on what it looks like to play our brand and style of volleyball."
 
LMU took down UC Riverside, 19-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-19 and were led by the 24 kills, seven blocks, and two kills by Kari Geissberger.
 
The Lions trailed in the second set late, 22-21, but closed out with four of the final five points to take the set and even the match at 1-1 at that point. 
 
It was a run of six unanswered points that changed a 12-12 game in the third set and gave LMU the lead for good to take the go-ahead set.
 
LMU only trailed 2-0 in the final set against UCR, before rattling off five consecutive points and nine of the next 11 points to take a 9-4 advantage. LMU used another 6-0 run to go ahead double digits, 18-8, before ultimately closing out the match.
 
Isabella Bareford finished with 47 assists, more than the entire UC Riverside team.
 
Just a few hours later, LMU returned to the court at the Save Mart Center to take on CSUN. The Lions defeated the Matadors in straight sets, 25-16, 25-14, 25-16.
 
LMU controlled the action from the beginning. After surrendering the opening point, the Lions scored the next five and used a later 6-0 run to take an 11-4 lead. The set ended with three straight points from the Lions to take the opener 25-16.
 
Another early start against CSUN put LMU in the driver's seat, leading 7-1. LMU led by as many as a dozen as a kill by Rose Booth gave the Lions a 22-10 advantage.
 
The third and final set started a lot closer than the first two between these two Los Angeles County teams. With the score tied at 10-all, Audrey Klemp recorded back-to-back kills to spark a run of eight straight points to push the Lions ahead, 18-10. LMU extended that lead to win 25-16.
 
Geissberger recorded 14 kills, with Bareford leading the way with 33 assists, and Mary Shroll totaling 14 digs.
 
The Lions will next head across the country for the third week of the season, playing in Liberty's tournament for three matches on Sept. 10 and 11.