On Senior Day, the two players honored before the match put together solid performances. Stephanie Stoll (Bellevue, Wash.) led the Redhawks with eight kills and five total blocks, plus she hit .615 in the match, while fellow senior Alec Goodrie (Springfield, Ore.) collected seven kills, a .545 hitting percentage, and eight digs.
“I was really proud of Alec and Stephanie for coming in and having a great match. We had a good game plan offensively, and it was nice for our setters to do well to give the middles a chance to function well. I want to see our outside hitters continue to perform better, but we made some nice adjustments. We have a tough road week, but we need to do well in order to achieve our goals,” Seattle U head coach James Finley said.
Matea Mamic (Split, Croatia) earned a kill and a block assist as Seattle U won three of the first four points of the opening set. The Redhawks extended their lead to 16-8 thanks to a 10-3 scoring run, and then scored six unanswered points, including four kills by four different players, to bring about set point. Chicago State saved three match points, including a block by Selena Newell and a kill by Elli Woinowsky, but the Cougars committed a service error to end the set in Seattle U’s favor.
Chicago State (6-22, 0-12 WAC) scored five straight points to take an 11-7 lead in the second set, but Seattle U responded with five unanswered points of its own to pull ahead, 12-11. Led by Sydney Schafer (Salt Lake City, Utah) with two kills, the Redhawks took the lead in the second set for good, 19-14, with five straight points. Seattle U scored the last three points of the set, capped by kills from Martina Samadan (Split, Croatia) and Iris Ivanis (Pozega, Croatia).
The Cougars scored the first two points of the third set on kills by Newell and Milica Zmiric, but Seattle U would quickly come back and take the lead thanks to an 8-4 run capped by a service ace from Mary Orbeta (Alameda, Calif.). Later in the set, after Seattle U scored four straight points, Chicago State responded with four unanswered points of its own, starting with a kill by Woinowsky and a block by Chinwendu Ngwadom. The Redhawks settled down and finished off the set and the match thanks to a kill by Goodrie.
Samadan was a perfect 7-for-7 in attack attempts, Ivanis earned six kills and a team-high 12 defensive digs, and Mamic also finished with six kills in the match. Kerry Lane (Tucson, Ariz.) accumulated 33 assists, two kills, five digs, and three block assists as the Redhawks hit .337, the team’s highest single-match hitting percentage of the season.
Woinowsky led Chicago State with eight kills, with Zmiric earning seven kills, four digs, and three total blocks. Cougar setter Sarah Metcalfe collected 19 assists and two service aces, and libero Julia Menhart led all players with 13 defensive digs.
Seattle University (11-14, 7-5 WAC) enters the final weekend of the WAC regular season tied for third place in the league standings with Bakersfield and Utah Valley. The Redhawks hit the road next week, taking on Grand Canyon Thursday, Nov. 13, in Phoenix, Ariz., before a match against the Roadrunners Saturday, Nov. 15, in Bakersfield, Calif.