Phoenix, AZ- For the third match in a row, Arizona Christian played all five sets.  And for the third time in a row, the Firestorm lost in the fifth set.  On Saturday, the loss came in the form of a 3-2 (25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 23-25, 15-13) result to William Jessup.  Senior Brenna Bailey hit. 417 while pounding out 19 kills.

The Warriors opened the match with the first point.  Bailey hammered out kills to tie the set at 1-1 and 2-2.  But WJU moved ahead at 3-2 and never looked back.  That quick set decision was not a sign of things to come as the match featured 41 ties and 20 lead changes.

Bailey had five of the nine ACU kills in the opener.

Set two started as a block party as Senior Samantha McCants and Junior Deborah White followed by White and Junior Kinsey Pease denied the Warrior attacks for a 2-0 lead.  Ten ties and three lead changes later, WJU turned a 22-20 deficit into a 25-23 set victory.  The Firestorm could only shake their heads thinking about all the chances they gave away because of errors.  Despite hitting a match high .176 in the set while holding WJU to -.108, ACU lost the set because of four ball handling errors, four serve receive errors, and six service errors.

The first six points into the third set saw the teams exchanged two lead changes and three ties.  Fifteen ties and seven lead changes in the set culminated in a 23-23 tie.  A WJU service error and a kill from Senior libero Haley Worden capped the dramatic set win for ACU.

Bailey exploded for five kills with Sophomore Toria Siemens adding three kills.

In the fourth set, four ties and four lead changes played out to an 8-8 tie.  However, a service ace from Worden gave the Firestorm a lead they would enjoy the rest of the set.

McCants buried six kills into the hardwood in set four.

With all the marbles at stake in the fifth set, WJU grabbed the first two points before ACU answered with the next three points.  From a 2-2 tie every possible tie except 8-8 and 9-9 found the match locked into a 13-13 draw.  But two kills from William Jessup gave them the match win and left Arizona Christian thinking back to the second set that got away.

McCants joined Bailey in double digit kills with 13 kills.  Junior Hailey Settle gave out 26 assists while digging up 11 balls.  Worden had 18 digs as Freshman Abbey Yates added 11 digs.  For the second match in a row, White recorded a career high seven blocks.

The Firestorm will play their next two matches in California starting with a 7:00 pm match at Biola on Friday.