Costa Mesa, CA- After winning the first two sets on Saturday, Arizona Christian dropped the next two sets and were down in the fifth before rallying for the 3-2 win over Vanguard.  The win secured ACU's spot in the first ever GSAC volleyball tournament.  The Firestorm recorded 99 digs and 12 blocks.

The Lions (17-10, 10-4 GSAC) led the entire first set up 21-19.  But the Firestorm (13-14, 4-10 GSAC) scored the final six points highlighted by a service ace from Junior Breanna Scott and blocks from Senior Debbie White teamed up with Sophomore Amanda Bakonyi and Junior Jackie Stein.

Stein had three kills on five attempts without an error.  White produced three kills and four blocks in the opener.

ACU grabbed the early lead in the second set which they held until 12-11.  VU took a 13-12 edge before a 6-0 counter by the Firestorm.  Kills from Senior Alli Lemnitzer and Scott followed by two straight services aces by Sophomore Delaney Harris pushed Arizona Christian ahead for the rest of the set.

Scott started rolling in the second with three kills.

The early third set was full of ties and lead changes.  Two kills from Scott broke the tie and ACU appeared to have a chance for the 3-0 sweep as they were up 21-19.  However, they could only record one more point the rest of the set.

Harris delivered nine digs in the third.

Following a 3-3 tie, Vanguard went on a 7-0 run to take control of the fourth set.

In the fifth and final set, it was up for grabs until the end.  Vanguard had a 12-11 advantage before a kill, hitting error, and an ACU service error worked a 13-13 tie.  But Scott put away a kill for set, match, and playoff point.  Stein then hammered a ball off the block attempt and straight down for the winner.

Vanguard's Kamelah Noah topped everyone with 13 kills.  Scott ended up with 10 kills for ACU.  Stein was one behind at nine kills.

Five Firestorm reached double digit digs as Harris accounted for a team high 27 digs.  Scott went for 19 digs.  Senior Kinsey Pease was good for 18 digs and 18 assists.  Stein had 11 digs.  Senior Hailey Carpenter recorded 13 assists and 10 digs.   But everyone was chasing the 40 digs for Rebecca Lowden of Vanguard.

Next up for the Firestorm will be a trip to the GSAC tournament hosted at The Master's next weekend.  The Firestorm will be the sixth seed and face Hope International based on the tie break for the third seed.  ACU will play in the tournament opening 5:00 pm match (6:00 pm AZ time) on Friday.