HITTING THE STRETCH RUN: There are four weekends remaining in the regular season for Seattle University, and the Redhawks will spend three of them on the road, starting this weekend. Seattle U travels to face Bakersfield Thursday before heading to Utah Valley Saturday for a possible first-place battle. Seattle U brings a four-match winning streak into the weekend and is close to clinching a spot in the WAC Tournament, but the Redhawks will be challenged by both the Roadrunners and the Wolverines.
LAST WEEK: Seattle University moved into a tie for first place in the WAC standings with three victories over the past week, defeating Grand Canyon (31-33, 25-19, 25-20, 25-21) and Chicago State (21-25, 25-18, 25-13, 26-24) in four sets before sweeping Kansas City (25-14, 29-27, 27-25) to conclude the week. Martina Samadan was consistent throughout the week, averaging 4.27 kills per set and hitting .545 in the three matches. Offensively, she received help from Iris Ivanis with 3.73 kills per set and a .395 hitting percentage and Sarah Jaeckel with 3.55 kills per set, including a team-high 14 kills in Saturday’s win over Kansas City. Defensively, Samadan averaged 1.36 blocks per set, and Lani Beadle collected 4.18 digs per set over the three contests.
SAMADAN NAMED WAC PLAYER OF WEEK: For the second consecutive week, a Seattle University player was honored by the conference, as sophomore Martina Samadan was named WAC Player of the Week this past Monday. Samadan was a major factor in Seattle University completing a perfect homestand with a 3-0 record over the past week. Last Monday, she collected 19 kills and a team-high six total blocks in the Redhawks’ 3-1 victory over Grand Canyon. Thursday night against Chicago State, she once again paced the Redhawk offense, earning 16 kills on 25 attack attempts with just one error for a .600 hitting percentage, plus she collected four service aces during the contest. Two nights later in Seattle U’s 3-0 victory over UMKC, she finished with 12 kills, two service aces, and seven total blocks. In the third set, she went 6-for-8 in attacks without an error to lead the Redhawks to their fifth straight home victory.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Entering the weekend, Lani Beadle needs 29 digs to become the sixth player in Seattle U volleyball history to reach 1,000 digs in a career.