SAN DIEGO – SFU delivered an outstanding season-opening performance taking down the back-to-back PacWest Conference champion Azusa Pacific Cougars in straight sets and winning its first volleyball game in nearly two years in convincing fashion Thursday at the Point Loma Seaside Invitational.
 
Simon Fraser won the match 25-16, 25-15, 25-15. SFU hit at a .284 percentage, while the Cougars hit at a .058 clip inside Golden Gymnasium.
 
Azusa Pacific, the two-time defending PacWest Champion, was picked as the preseason favorite in the PacWest. The Cougars won back-to-back PacWest titles in 2018 and 2019.
 
The ninth season under SFU head coach Gina Schmidt was ignited by freshman Brooke Dexter who smashed four kills during a 13-3 run to break open the first set and lift SFU to an insurmountable lead. Dexter, a 6'2" rightside hitter from Anchorage, along with middle block Farnaaz Johal of Penticton, with two kills, sparked SFU's early momentum during the run. Dexter finished 7-of-13 for a .538 attack percentage in the opening set. Although APU pulled to within 19-14 in the set that's as close as it would get.
 
SFU carried its momentum into the second set, jumping out to a 12-4 lead and never looking back. The third set was closer, although SFU never trailed. SFU finished the Cougars off with a a 13-6 match-winning run. Camryn Vosloh finished with 4 kills in the final set.
 
"It was a nice way to start off the season after a year and a half without any NCAA competition," said Schmidt. "We've been working on a lot of things both individually and as a team over the past year and it was great to see those things show up on the court tonight."
 
 
It is an exciting start to the season for SFU, who has just three returning starters from the 2019 squad. Key returning players Johal and Volosh stepped in and stepped up in match No. 1 along with the freshmen.
 
SFU was led by 13 kills and a .440 attack percentage from Dexter, 10 kills from Volosh and 6 on 13 attempts by Johal. SFU also received 28 assists from senior Julia Tays and 12 digs from senior libero Bianca Te. Volosh added two service aces.
 
SFU had a 42-23 edge in kills, 48-31 edge in digs and a 33-20 advantage in assists.
 
The tournament continues with two games tomorrow against Cal-State San Bernardino and Cal-State LA.