Phoenix, AZ- Playing in front of their home crowd for the first time this season sparked Arizona Christian to their first win of the year- a 3-1 victory (26-28, 28-26, 25-17, 25-16) over Benedictine-Mesa on Wednesday.  Senior Brenna Bailey led the offensive charge with 15 kills.

The first two sets were both up for grabs until the end as they featured a combined 23 ties and 8 lead changes.

In the opener, the first four points came off errors by the other team which resulted the Redhawks (2-3) taking a 3-1 edge.  After forcing three ties, the Firestorm (1-1) took their first lead of the match at 9-8 on a service ace by Senior Haley Worden.  With ACU leading 19-16, it appeared they might have the advantage but Benedictine responded to tie the set and then take the lead.  However, thanks to a BU service error ACU reached set point at 25-24.  But the Redhawks outscored the Firestorm 4-1 to close out the set win.

Bailey delivered four kills in the first set.

Set two saw a 2-0 ACU lead but Benedictine countered and moved ahead at 7-6.  Down four as late as 13-9, the Firestorm rolled back and grabbed the lead back at 22-21 on a kill from Junior Deborah White. Arizona Christian once again reached set points at 24-23, 25-24, and 26-25.  Finally, ACU earned their first set win of the season on kills from Bailey and Freshman Abbey Yates.

With seven kills in the second set, Bailey once again led the charge.  Junior Hailey Settle accounted for three kills.  Benedictine actually out hit Arizona Christian .244 to .154 but the Firestorm recorded 17 kills to the 15 kills for the Redhawks.

A kill from White and two kills from Senior Samantha McCants (who finished with 12 kills) gave ACU a quick 3-0 lead in the third set.  McCants delivered three service aces in a seven serve sequence to help the Firestorm take control of the final two sets.  ACU did not allow even a tie in sets three and four.

Freshman Delaney Harris spread out 22 assists to her teammates.  Settle distributed 18 assists as well.  Sophomore Toria Siemens hit .400 to top all Firestorm who attempted at least 10 attacks.

Defensively, Worden dug up an impressive 31 digs.

Head Coach Becki Olson commented, "I'm proud of the way the girls came back after the first set. Benedictine has a solid team and forced us to utilize all of our offensive options. We still have a number of adjustments to make but are looking forward to a rematch against Embry Riddle next week. Glory to God!"

A week from Thursday, the Firestorm will return to action as they host Embry-Riddle (AZ) for a 7:00 pm match.  The ERAU match will be the start of three matches in three days- all at home- for ACU.