9/1/10 - Royals Come Up Short In Tight Match Against Lions

Written by Tim Gooszen

Fullerton, CA- In a rare Wednesday night match, Hope International came up short 3-2 (25-16, 21-25, 21-25, 29-27, 15-11) against Vanguard in the opening matches of their GSAC schedules.  Junior Naomi Iosia had a double-double with 20 kills and 15 digs.  Senior Jocelyn Moya recorded 15 digs as well.

In the first set, the rust of not playing in 11 days showed as the Royals (1-2, 0-1 GSAC) managed just 2 ties.  Oddly enough, the Royals out killed the Lions (1-0, 1-0 GSAC) 13 to 12 but committed 8 more hitting errors (9 to 1) which proved to be the difference in the set.  Senior Amanda Elliott had 5 kills with a .364 hitting percentage in the opening set.

Set number two started out slow for the Royals as they found themselves down 5-1 but stormed back to tie the score at 6-6.  Freshman Sabrina La Rusch keyed a 3-1 run in the comeback with strong serving including an ace.  A few points later, Senior Ashley Travis buried a kill to give the Royals a 9-8 lead- a lead they would not relinquish the remainder of the set.  Six serving errors by Vanguard in the set did not hurt the Royals’ cause either.

Though set three started like set two with the Royals down, Iosia made light work of being behind and scorched the hardwood with 9 kills in the set.  HIU had a little trouble closing out the set after building a 24-16 lead as they allowed Vanguard five straight points.  But Iosia finally closed the door with a kill to end the set.

The fourth set was all about the ties.  The Royals forced 9 ties but after falling behind early could not ever completely overcome the hump and never led in the set.  Down 20-14, HIU found their groove as they recorded 7 of the next 8 points to tie the set at 21-21.  That set up a classic finish of the Lions taking a one point lead and the Royals immediately tying the score again.  That pattern continued all the way to the end when Vanguard finally pulled out the 29-27 win.

Iosia had five kills while Junior Sine Schirmer had four kills in the set.

The fifth and final set was anybody’s set down to the final four points of the match.  Even being down 10-6, the Royals were not ready to give in scoring 5 of the next 6 points to tie the score 11-11.  Better yet- Junior Casey Issenmann was not ready to give up.  She served up not one… not two… but three consecutive service aces (including two in a row that looked like video replays of each other).  Unfortunately, her third ace in row proved to be the last point the Royals would score on the night.

Head Coach Steve La Rusch stated, encouraged by the Royals being a step closer to getting around the competitive corner, “We now know what we need to work on to take ourselves to that  next level of play.”

The Royals will have just one day of practice before hosting the NCCAA Western Regional Classic over the course over two days.  They are scheduled to play at 8:00 pm on Friday night and 12:00 pm on Saturday as part of the classic.

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