PLNU’s women’s volleyball season ends in Division II Final Four

Point Loma Nazarene’s quest for a first national championship in women’s volleyball ended Friday.

Second-seeded Concordia-St. Paul University defeated third-seeded PLNU 3-1 in the NCAA Division II semifinals in Sioux Falls. S.D.

The game scores were 25-23, 25-20, 21-25, 25-16.

Point Loma Nazarene finished the season 28-5. The Golden Bears are 31-5.

After close losses in the first two sets, PLNU won the third and held a 9-8 lead in the fourth.

“I’m very proud of the whole season,” said PLNU head coach Jonathan Scott. “We fought through a lot of adversity. We kept it selfless. That was a tough one. I don’t have much to say after a loss. Concordia played unbelievable volleyball. That was a great job by them.

“Unfortunately, in first two sets, as close as they were, we were not on our game. We had some moments of hesitation. And hesitation is contagious. We normally assert ourselves in those moments. I feel that match could have gone differently if we asserted ourselves a little bit earlier.”

Senior outside hitter Abigail Nua, who returned from a serious early-season injury, led PLNU Friday with 21 kills, five digs and three blocks.

“Nua is the best player Point Loma has ever had,” said Scott.

Freshman middle blocker Hailey Clark added 10 kills, five digs and three blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Saren Rogers, from Victory Christian High School, had nine kills, three digs and a block.

Freshman middle blocker Kyra Miles (Helix High School) had five kills, four blocks and two digs. Senior middle blocker Jill Leslie had eight kills and three blocks.

Junior setter Sophia Baugh had four kills, 15 digs and 40 assists. Senior libero Macy Reynolds had 21 digs and five assists.

PLNU loses Nua, Leslie and Reynolds to graduation, but Scott said there is “a lot of hope for next season.”

“We return a lot of talent,” he said. “The matches that we played without Nua forced some of our young girls to play more. We had four freshmen out there in key roles.”