Santee, CA- On Tuesday evening, Arizona Christian pushed San Diego Christian to four sets but came up short 3-1 (25-16, 25-18, 16-25, 27-25).  Senior Samantha McCants pounded out 11 kills.

Down 1-0 to open the match, McCants and Senior Brenna Bailey recorded kills to force a 1-1 and then 2-2 tie.  ACU fell behind by three at three different points but fought back within one thanks to kills from Junior Deborah White and McCants.  But a 6-0 SDCC run turned the tide in their favor for the rest of the set.

McCants topped all hitters with four kills in the first set.

Behind to start the second set, a kill from both McCants and Junior Hailey Settle followed by a service ace from Senior Bianka Curvey moved ACU ahead 3-1.  The Hawks (7-8, 1-4 GSAC) countered with a 3-0 run before the Firestorm reeled off four straight highlighted by a service ace from Freshman Abbey Yates and a block by Bailey and Sophomore Toria Siemens.  Move ahead to a 17-17 tie and it appeared to be anybody's set.  However, San Diego Christian recorded eight of the last nine points to take a 2-0 sets lead.

Siemens put down four kills in the set but like the first set ACU hit negative as a team in the second frame.

A 1-1 tie turned into a 4-1 ACU edge to begin the third thanks to errors by SDCC.  However, the Firestorm did not look back as they held the top score for the remainder of the set.  Strong serving from Junior Morgan Stevens (keyed by two straight service aces) turned a 6-3 score into a 13-3 score.

The Firestorm committed just two hitting errors in the third set on their way to hitting .348.

Freshman Delaney Harris sandwiched two service aces around a kill from White and Settle to help ACU build a 5-0 advantage to begin the fourth set.  Back-to-back aces from Curvey moved Arizona Christian out to a 9-3 cushion.  But a 13-3 explosion from the Hawks gave them back the lead.  A kill by Bailey pushed ACU ahead 21-20.  Another Yates' ace made it 23-22.  In fact, the Firestorm moved out to set point at 24-23.  Yet SDCC shut the door with a 4-1 exchange.

Behind the 11 kills of McCants, Siemens and Bailey both accounted for nine kills.

The Firestorm will stay in California and head to Lancaster for a match with the University of Antelope Valley on Wednesday.  First serve is set for 4:00 pm.