Surprise, Ariz.- Despite a record night of blocking at the net, Arizona Christian came up short against OUAZ on Tuesday evening.  The Firestorm tied their program best of 18 blocks in the match while setting a new record for blocks in a four set match and new block assist program mark at 28.

Match Info

• Match scores
  • Set 1: OUAZ 25-23
  • Set 2: OUAZ 27-25
  • Set 3: ACU 27-25
  • Set 4: OUAZ 25-21
• Records: Arizona Christian - 5-12, 2-7 GSAC, OUAZ - 10-8, 5-4 GSAC
• NAIA Top 25 Rank: Arizona Christian - not ranked, OUAZ - not ranked
• Location: Faith Arena, Ottawa University Arizona, Surprise, AZ

ACU Stats

• Katy Shockey - 12 kills, hit .310, 8 blocks
• Kaeleigh Gibson - 10 kills, 12 digs
• Brittnie Henige - 10 kills
• Bailey Schlosser - 22 assists
• Caitlin Chan - 13 assists, 13 digs
• Nikole Lunsford - 12 digs
• Gertie Savitch - 10 digs
• Emmi Jacobus - 8 blocks

Inside The Box Score

• Aside from three ties, ACU maintained the lead until 19-18 in the first set
• But the Spirit used a 5-0 run to grab the lead for the rest of the set
• After OUAZ was in front much of the second set before Gibson buried a kill for a 16-15 edge
• Deni Jackson notched two solo blocks in a span of six points with the second one getting ACU to set point at 24-23
• Another tie followed by a Henige kill gave the Firestorm against 25-24
• Unfortunately, ACU gave up three straight points to drop the set
• Beside one early tie in the third set, ACU was in front until a 18-18 tie
• The Spirit took three leads before ACU answered
• Three set points for Arizona Christian finally saw the Firestorm end the set with a solo block by Jacobus
• After 19 points in the fourth, ACU was ahead 10-9
• That turned out to be their last lead in the match
• Eighteen blocks as a team ties a ten-year-old record with the blocks in four sets passing a 13 year record of 16.5
• The eight block assists for Shockey ties her for second individually in a match (nine set last year)

Thoughts from Coach Briscoe

"Our girls put on a gritty performance tonight playing a tight side out game.  We were able to lead throughout the match but could close out to keep us in this one.  Really proud of the team effort we saw on the court with our serve receive keeping us stable along with a strong offense presence across the net." 

Up Next

After playing away locally, the Firestorm will really play away on Friday and Saturday as they head to Santa Clarita and Santa Barbara to begin the second half of the GSAC schedule.  First serve at The Master's will come at 6:00 pm.