VBall upsets Malone, 3-2

Lady Lions win thriller in Orlando

SAGU begins NCCAA National Tourney with a win

KISSIMMEE, Florida  --  Getting off to a great start at the NCCAA Nationals, the Southwestern Assemblies of God University women's volleyball team edged #4 seeded Malone University (Ohio), 3-2, by taking the decisive fifth set, 15-13.

SAGU, seeded #8, lost the first game by a 25-21 count. They rebounded to take the next two games, 25-20 and 28-26 in an epic third set. The Pioneers rallied from a 19-15 deficit to even the match in a 25-22 triumph.

In the tie-breaking fifth game, the Lady Lions never trailed. Coach Hank Moore's team had leads of 6-3, 10-6, 13-9 and were on the cusp of polishing off Malone when they took a 14-10 advantage. The favored Pioneers stormed back to within 14-13 before a critical service error gave the game and the match to SAGU, 15-13.

Freshman Jessica Sodich (Ovilla, Tx / Ovilla Christian) had a monster match with 22 kills and 21 digs. Her hitting percentage of .467 made her the go-to player. She had 45 swings, indicating her teammates knew who had the hot hand. Her previous best was a 17 kill performance in five sets against John Brown University over two months ago. 

"It was a huge win for us," coach Moore said afterwards.

Malone, from Canton, Ohio, entered the tournament with a 29-11 record.

An extensive report will be posted later when the official box score is released.

Southwestern is now 23-15. They return to the court at 3:00pm (CST) when they face the #9 seed Colorado Christian University in another best-of-five match. It will again be broadcast on GPSN, an on-line videostream. The CCU Cougars (18-17) were the #1 seed at the Central Regional before they were eliminated by SAGU, 3-1. 

Go to the following site and click on match #7, which will be played on court #1.

http://www.gpsnonline.com/category/womens-volleyball/ 

Contact: Mark "Link" Warde, Sports Information Director, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 469-658-2847.