SURPRISE, Ariz. – In the first of four contests in four different sports between OUAZ and Arizona Christian this week, the OUAZ women's volleyball team put together a record performance in taking a five-set win on Tuesday night at Willow Canyon High School.
 
The match was competitive all night and featured a total of 20 ties and six lead changes before the Spirit (9-7, 4-5 GSAC) emerged with the 21-25, 25-20, 30-28, 17-25, 15-11 victory.
 
It took a record night from the OUAZ offense to seal the win as the Spirit finished with a school record 70 kills while hitting .237. Arizona Christian (10-5, 6-3) dropped 63 kills in hitting .201 to make the home team earn the win.
 
After the team split the first two sets, OUAZ was cruising to a 2-1 lead at 22-14 in the third. ACU rallied back and forced the Spirit to fight off three set points before closing out the set 30-28. The Firestorm forced a fifth set by leading wire-to-wire in the fourth, and then opened the decisive frame with a 5-2 lead.
 
From there, Jorie Mayfield made sure that OUAZ got the win as she led the Spirit back with six kills in the final set. She recorded the final four of the night to finish with a school record 23 in the match. Mayfield hit .300 while adding six digs and five blocks. Her 23 kills are the second most by any player in the GSAC this season.
 
It wasn't just Mayfield that brought the offense. Gianna Kioa contributed what would have been the school record 21 kills on .306 hitting and Austin Edwards added a career high 16 kills by hitting .343.
 
The Spirit defense also got involved in the action with 92 digs behind a school record 41 digs from Seleni Bartley. Kioa added 11 digs to record a double-double with Rachel Kater getting 10 digs to go with 58 assists for her double-double.
 
OUAZ had an 8-3 edge in blocks in part to the five from Mayfield and four from Asha Harris.
 
Arizona Christian tallied 12 service aces and had 81 digs.
 
Jackie Stein led the Firestorm with 19 kills with Amanda Bakonyi and Breanna Scott adding 17 apiece.
 
OUAZ will now hit the road for six straight matches, including a pair of GSAC matches at ranked opponents this weekend. The first comes on Friday when they face No. 17 Westmont College at 7 p.m. in Santa Barbara, Calif.