Lions Fall in Pair of Five-Set Matches at Summer Slam

Photo, Recap Credit: Vanguard

FULLERTON, Calif. – The 2017 Vanguard/Hope Summer Slam kicked off Wednesday and the Lions played their only two road games of a five game slate in the tournament. After Biola University's long standing tradition was handed off due to their transition to NCAA Division II, the Lions (1-2) faced their first road action of the year. First, the Blue and Gold matched up against Morningside (RV) (2-0) and later faced #25 College of Idaho (2-0) in the nightcap. Both matches went to the fifth set before Vanguard was defeated. The score from the Morningside game ran (25-14,21-25,21-25,25-21,15-9) while the match against the Yotes was (25-16,20-25,22-25,25-20,15-7).

Morningside (RV) 3, Vanguard 2

Juanae Johnson (SR/Santa Monica, CA) was the kill leader for the match with 17 and was one of four Lions to hit double digit successful attacks. Kamelah Noel (SO/Portland, OR) ended with 12, Shaylen Larson-Piper (JR/Elizabeth, CO) snagged 11, and Jene Lee (SR/San Dimas, CA) finished with 10. Johnson and Noel combined for 95 total attacks. Running a 5-1 offensive system, Kirstin Trabert (SO/Corona, CA) dished out 50 assists, while the counterparts for Morningside added 31 and 23 each in a 6-2 offensive system. Vanguard ended with 5.5 blocks, 1.5 more than the opposition. Each squad recorded a lone solo block. Rebecca Lowden (JR/Glendora, CA) led the match with 27 digs, but Trabert, Noel, and Linsey Ng all had 10 or more digs on the day.

College of Idaho 3, Vanguard 2

The contest was tightly contested, but the Yotes walked off the court in victory. COI held a 13-5 edge in services aces while the Lions recorded six less service errors to a net positive of two points for College of Idaho. Noel led the Pride with 17 kills in the second contest of the day while Taylor Jackson (SR/Las Vegas, NV) was slotted second with 11 kills and Johnson finished right at 10. Noel had the highest hitting percentage for the squad with .400 (outside of setter Trabert going 2-2). Game two saw a shift in philosophy as Trabert tossed out 25 assists while Kylie Garrett (FR/Ladera Ranch, CA) saw her first action of the year and handed out 22 helpers. The dig count was more even as Lowden grabbed 18 and Ng was just behind with 15. The teams were one dig off each other (COI 60, VU 59). Both teams ended with 11.0 blocks with only one solo block coming between the 43 total chances.

Next Match: Today, August 17^th at 10:00 a.m. against Northwestern University and 2:00 p.m. against Southern Oregon University.