The Seattle University volleyball team saw its four-match winning streak come to an end, as Bakersfield’s offense was too much for the Redhawks as the Roadrunners earned a 3-0 victory (25-19, 25-13, 25-22) Thursday night in a Western Athletic Conference match at the Icardo Center.
The Redhawks took an early 5-2 lead in the first set on four consecutive kills, including two by Sarah Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.), but Bakersfield answered right back with three unanswered points. After another Seattle U stretch of four unanswered points pulled the Redhawks ahead, 10-8, the Roadrunners scored three straight points of their own to go back on top, 11-10.
Bakersfield (14-9, 6-3 WAC) would go on a 5-0 scoring run, featuring two service aces by Debora Araujo, to take a 16-11 advantage, before kills by Iris Ivanis (Pozega, Croatia) and Jaeckel helped the Redhawks cut their deficit to two. The Roadrunners would clinch the opening set by winning the final three points, punctuated by another service ace from Araujo.
The Roadrunners jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the second set, led by Kelsee Sawyer with two kills and a solo block as well as Star Tucker-Campbell with two kills. Shayna Guitare collected consecutive kills and a block assist to help Bakersfield extend its lead to 14-6, and the Roadrunners would cruise to the second set victory, finished off with kills by Guitare and Molly O’Hagan.
Three kills by Stephanie Stoll (Bellevue, Wash.) helped the Redhawks take an early two-point lead in the third set before Bakersfield scored six unanswered points, half of them on service aces by Araujo, to go ahead, 10-6. Down by six later in the set, Seattle U went on a 6-1 scoring run to close its deficit to one, but the Roadrunners held off the Redhawk rally, clinching the set and the match on a kill by Guitare.
"We were not prepared for tonight's match like we needed to be, and it showed in the results," Seattle U head coach James Finley said. "Bakersfield had a good game plan and executed it well, but we definitely need to be better if we are going to be true contenders in this conference. I expect to see the effort that we are capable of showing on Saturday."
Ivanis led the Redhawk offense with 10 kills, with Jaeckel contributing eight kills, two service aces, and seven digs. Kerry Lane (Tucson, Ariz.) also collected seven digs to go along with 25 assists and two block assists, and Lani Beadle (Seattle, Wash.) led Seattle U with 11 defensive digs.
For the Roadrunners, Sawyer earned 13 kills, followed by Guitare with nine kills and O’Hagan with eight kills. Araujo also finished with eight kills along with six service aces and nine digs, while setter Fernanda Goncalves collected 42 assists and seven digs and libero Mariah Alvidrez led Bakersfield with 11 defensive digs.
Seattle University (10-15, 7-3 WAC) heads to Orem, Utah, to face Utah Valley (13-12, 7-3 WAC) Saturday, Oct. 26, starting at 6 p.m. Pacific time. The Redhawks return for their final regular season home matches next weekend against Texas-Pan American (Oct. 31) and New Mexico State (Nov. 2), with both matches starting at 7 p.m. at the Connolly Center.