The Bakersfield Roadrunners dominated the first and third sets, plus rallied in the second set for a 3-0 victory (25-19, 25-23, 25-13) over the Seattle University Redhawks in a Western Athletic Conference volleyball match at the Connolly Center.
Jelena Vujcin (Becej, Serbia) led Seattle U with 10 kills, with Martina Samadan (Split, Croatia) earning seven kills and Stephanie Stoll (Bellevue, Wash.) collecting seven total blocks. Setter Kerry Lane (Tucson, Ariz.) collected 23 assists, four kills, two service aces, and five digs, while Sydney Schafer (Salt Lake City, Utah) came off the bench and contributed five kills and six digs.
“I credit Bakersfield for obviously putting together a good game plan and executing it well tonight. I am disappointed in our team’s effort and performance in this match,” Seattle U head coach James Finley said.
Bakersfield (8-11, 4-2 WAC) went on a 5-1 scoring run early in the opening set, led by two kills from Danika Youngblood. Kelsee Sawyer earned two kills during a 6-2 run that increased the Roadrunner lead to 14-7, and the visitors would maintain that advantage the rest of the way, with Youngblood closing out the set with consecutive kills. She was 8-for-8 in attacks in the first set as Bakersfield hit .708 to start the match.
Mariah Alvidrez started the second set with a service ace as Bakersfield scored four of the first five points, but Seattle U would outscore the Roadrunners 13-5, led by three kills by Vujcin and three blocks from Stoll, to take a 14-9 lead. Down 20-17 later in the second set, Bakersfield took advantage of five straight Redhawk errors to take the lead, and then a kill by Molly O’Hagan and a service ace from Eryn Riley gave the Roadrunners the second set.
Two kills by Iris Ivanis (Pozega, Croatia) helped Seattle U take an early 3-1 lead in the third set, but Bakersfield responded with five unanswered points, including a block by Youngblood and O’Hagan and another service ace from Riley. Bakersfield went on a 6-2 run, including two kills by Sawyer, to increase its lead to 15-8, and then closed out the match with a 10-3 stretch, culminating with kills by Youngblood and Megan Johnson.
Youngblood led all players with 14 kills, plus she hit .400 during the match, while Sawyer and O’Hagan collected 11 kills apiece. Luiza Martins ran a solid offense, finishing with 30 assists and eight digs, while Alvidrez contributed five assists and a match-high 11 digs to the winning effort.
Seattle University (7-12, 3-3 WAC) will look to rebound Saturday afternoon against Grand Canyon University at 1 p.m. at the Connolly Center. Live stats and live video will be available on GoSeattleU.com, while fans are encouraged to follow Seattle U Athletics on Facebook for a special Social Media Day ticket deal.