The OUAZ women's volleyball team had Faith Arena rocking on Thursday night, Sept. 21 as they defeated Arizona Christian 25-18, 25-12, 25-14 in front of a crowd that was in full voice in a Golden State Athletic Conference match.
 
Lauren Wamsley led all players with 14 kills, while Cristal Carrizoza had 21 assists and Kenzie Kuxhaus had 32 of Spirit's (9-6, 2-3 Golden State Athletic Conference) 57 digs.
 
As a team, the Spirit hit an amazing 343 on 99 attempts.  The .343 hitting percentage is good for eighth best in school history.
 
ACU (6-11, 0-5 GSAC) jumped out to a lead in the first set, leading 6-3 after the first nine points of the evening.  OUAZ came back and tied it up at 8-all.  The teams were tied at 12-all when OUAZ went on the first sustained run of the night.  The Spirit went on a 10-1 run to lead 22-13.  The Firebirds are a proud team and were not just going to give the set away without fighting back, they went on a 5-0 to get to within 22-18.  However, a service error by the Firestorm and a pair of kills by Kaia Nowlin-Chaffino secured the set for OUAZ.
 
The early portion of the second set had the score at 2-all, and then the Spirit went on a 7-0 run to take a 9-2 lead.  Some trading of points saw the score to increase to 13-6 in favor of OUAZ.  The Henige sisters, Brittnie (8 kills, 3 digs) and Rylie (4 kills and a block), along with a nice service touch by Kuxhaus gave the Spirit a 23-8 dominating lead.  A 4-2 run by the Firestorm closed out the second set in 25-12 fashion for OUAZ.
 
The third set was closeout time.  After ACU took a 2-0 lead, OUAZ stormed to an 11-2 run to take an 11-4 lead in the set.  Arizona Christian tried to interrupt the Spirit's rhythm with a timeout, and it worked for a little while.  It was 18-12 OUAZ when Wamsley said enough.  In the final nine points of the match (7-2 OUAZ run), Wamsley had a hand in six of the points.
 
OUAZ will take a step out of conference next Wednesday when they host fellow Valley school Justice College.  That match is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. in Faith Arena.  Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased in the Hometown Ticket App or by pointing your browser here.