The Seattle University volleyball team received contributions from several players at different times of Saturday afternoon’s match, pulling out a 3-1 victory (25-17, 19-25, 29-27, 25-21) over the New Mexico State Aggies in a Western Athletic Conference contest at the Connolly Center.
Matea Mamic (Split, Croatia) led the Redhawk offense with 15 kills, while Martina Samadan (Split, Croatia) finished with 14 kills and freshman Jelena Vujcin (Becej, Serbia) notched her first career double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs. Setter Kerry Lane (Tucson, Ariz.) ran a solid offense, collecting 41 assists to go along with two kills, a service ace, five digs, and seven total blocks, the same number of blocks earned by Stephanie Stoll (Bellevue, Wash.) during the match.
“This is the kind of victory you strive for as a program, because we talk about building, and the first step is competing with the top teams in your conference. They are a great team and had opportunities to make runs, but our team hung tough,” Seattle U head coach James Finley said. “A couple of players who had dominated some previous matches struggled today, but other players picked up the slack, so this was a great team effort.”
After the intermission with the match tied at one set apiece, Seattle U scored five straight points, including two kills by Mamic, to take the lead at 14-10. However, New Mexico State answered with five straight points of its own, featuring two kills by Kassandra Tohm, to pull ahead, 16-15. Down 18-16 after kills by Mary Orbeta (Alameda, Calif.) and Stoll, the Aggies went on an 8-2 scoring run, led by two kills and a service ace by Tohm as well as two kills by Nathalie Castellanos, to bring about set point at 24-20.
Two kills by Samadan as well as a service ace from Iris Ivanis (Pozega, Croatia) led to four straight Redhawk points, tying the set at 24-24. Kills by Castellanos and Bradley Nash gave the Aggies two more chances at winning the third set to take the match lead, but the Redhawks continued to hold off the visitors, winning four of the final five points of the set, punctuated by two kills from Mamic and a block by Stoll and Vujcin.
New Mexico State (9-6, 3-1 WAC) looked like it was going to send the match to a fifth set, opening an 8-1 lead in the fourth set that included a block assist and a kill each from Gwen Murphy and Jordan Abalos. Seattle U went on a 7-2 scoring run to close to within two thanks to three kills and a block assist by Mamic, but the Aggies scored three straight points to extend their lead to 13-8, forcing Seattle U to take its second and final timeout of the set.
The Redhawks rattled off nine unanswered points, thanks in part to two kills by Samadan as well as three straight Aggie attack errors, to take the lead at 17-13. New Mexico State rallied back with five unanswered points of its own, including consecutive kills by Castellanos, to retake the lead at 18-17. With the set tied at 20-20 after a kill by Abalos, the Redhawks closed out the set and the match by scoring five of the final six points, with Lane assisting on three blocks as well as the match-clinching kill by Stoll.
Tohm was the only Aggie to earn double-digit kills, finishing with 11 kills and two service aces, while Castellanos earned nine kills and three block assists. Taylor Livoti and Ashlyn Brown each collected 19 assists, with Livoti also earning three service aces and eight digs. Abalos led the Aggies with 13 digs to go along with eight kills, with Hannah Walker contributing 12 digs.
Ivanis struggled offensively, but contributed to the victory in other ways with 11 digs and three service aces. Orbeta took over in the libero position after the intermission and collected eight defensive digs over the final two sets.
“Kerry and I were able to communicate openly throughout the match, and she made adjustments right away. Mary came in as libero, after two weeks of great defense, and dug some crucial balls at the right time, while Jelena, another freshman, played huge on the right side today with key kills. Having young players step up under pressure is exciting to see as a coach, plus we got good leadership, as I could tell the team was fired up throughout the match,” added Finley.
Seattle University (6-10, 2-1 WAC) heads to the Midwest next weekend, facing Chicago State Thursday, Oct. 9, at 7 p.m. local time (5 p.m. Pacific time) before taking on UMKC in Kansas City, Mo., Saturday, Oct. 11, at 1 p.m. Central time (11 a.m. Pacific time). The Redhawks return home the following weekend for three straight home matches, closing out the first half of the WAC season against Bakersfield (Oct. 16) and Grand Canyon (Oct. 18) before opening the second half of the conference schedule against Utah Valley (Oct. 25).