IRVINE, Calif. – Heading into the first game of PacWest play with a clean slate, the Concordia women's volleyball team looked to take down Point Loma on Wednesday night. Although it was a defensive battle on the hardwood, the Sea Lions came out on top in a three set battle.
 
"Point Loma came out and dug a little bit deeper," said CUI head coach Paula Weishoff. "I think we were back a little bit on our heels. We've been able to be gritty and come back and for some reason, tonight they just put more pressure on us."
 
Despite the strong Sea Lion defense, Mackenzie Jensen was able to make her presence known in her home debut, where she had eight kills, three blocks, and hit .538. Jaclyn Brown and Riley Gill shared a team-high 10 digs, and each had six kills while Hannah Tostado had four kills and three blocks.
 
"We had some runs, but they had more," added Weishoff.  "We would catch up and then they'd go ahead by a few points. We just made too many errors tonight and they transitioned very well. We just have to remember that conference is exponentially more difficult than the tournaments and we will keep working hard."
 
The runs were prominent throughout the match as teams spewed out runs left and right in set one. Point Loma started out 5-0, before Concordia gunned ahead 6-5. The Sea Lions scored five straight later to lead 15-12 then scored six of the last seven points to take the set 25-18.
 
In the second, kills from Brown, Jensen, and Jordan Mineer put the Eagles up 9-4. Jensen had a solo block and Mineer delivered another kill to make the score 18-15 CUI. Breaking the tie at 20 with a PLNU service error, the Sea Lions were able to produce offensively, reeling in a 5-1 run to seal the set.
 
Concordia used a Jensen kill and an ace from Kailyn Case to build a 9-4 lead. Despite a 12-3 run for Point Loma, the Eagles crawled back within one at 20-19. Strong offense for Sea Lions closed out the set 25-20.
 
Next Up: Concordia will head back on the road to take on Academy of Art on Friday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. and Holy Names on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 4 p.m.. The Eagles make their next home appearance on Oct. 2 against Azusa Pacific at 7 p.m.  

For the full CUI women's volleyball schedule, click here.