After splitting the first four sets, the Seattle University volleyball team took advantage of numerous mistakes by the University of Idaho in the fifth set, ending the Vandals’ five-match winning streak with a 3-2 victory (25-23, 18-25, 25-23, 18-25, 15-6) Friday morning in the Portland State Volleyball Showcase at the Stott Center.
After scored three of the first four points in the deciding set, answered back with four unanswered points to take a 5-3 lead. Emily Powell (, ) earned a kill to give the Redhawks the serve, and senior Libby Graff (, ) made the most of her opportunity with three service aces, plus five attack errors and kills by Powell and Cristin Richards (, ) that led to an 11-0 run by . Powell finished the set and the match with her seventh kill of the morning.
Richards led the Redhawks with 15 kills, while Graff collected eight kills and four block assists to go along with her three fifth-set aces. Setter Jamie Mellies () continued her solid all-around play with 39 assists, ten digs, three kills, two service aces, and six total blocks, which ties her career high. Besides her seven kills, Powell also earned four block assists, and Kaytlyn Dill () had six kills, two service aces, and 12 defensive digs in the match.
Defensively, Jordan Keller () contributed to the 11 team blocks with five block assists of her own. In the back, libero Emily Deleissegues (Aromas, ) led the Redhawks with 16 digs, and Shelly Anderson () finished the match with 12 digs and two service aces. was able to pull out the victory despite hitting only .125 for the match.
(5-2) had four players in double figures in kills, led by Sarah Loney with 15 kills to go along with six block assists. Anna McKinney had 14 kills and six total blocks, Haley Larsen finished with 12 kills and seven defensive digs, and Debbie Pederson earned ten kills in 20 attack attempts. Setter Kelsey James collected 56 assists, and libero Kelsey Yonker led all players with 22 digs. The Vandals hurt themselves by committing 13 service errors and hitting -.167 in the deciding set.
(2-6) will have a short time to rest before facing the (2-6) in its second match of the weekend tournament. The match between the Redhawks and Pilots is scheduled for 2 p.m., but because this match has set the schedule back a bit, the two teams will have to wait until the conclusion of the match between and UC Riverside.