Senior Martina Samadan (Split, Croatia) led Seattle University with 15 kills, including the 1,000th kill of her collegiate career, but CSU Bakersfield was able to defeat the Redhawks, 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-19), Thursday night in a Western Athletic Conference volleyball match at the Icardo Center.
Samadan earned her 1,000th career kill, which includes her first year at VCU as well as the three seasons at Seattle U, early in the third set. She finished with 15 kills and just one attack error on 25 attempts for a .560 hitting percentage, the seventh time this season she has hit at least .500 in a match. She also collected four block assists, while Matea Mamic (Split, Croatia) finished with 10 kills, eight digs, and three total blocks. Iris Ivanis (Pozega, Croatia) led the Redhawks with 10 digs and four service aces.
CSU Bakersfield (9-12, 7-2 WAC) scored five unanswered points early in the first set to take a 10-5 lead. The Roadrunners remained on top 18-13 before Seattle U called timeout and promptly outscored CSUB 12-3 to close out the set, led by Jelena Vujcin (Becej, Serbia) with two kills and a block assist and punctuated by a kill from Samadan.
After a Samadan kill gave Seattle U the first point of the second set, CSUB scored seven unanswered points with two kills each by Edithza Urias and Carol Grasso as well as two service aces from Kelsee Sawyer. The Redhawks rallied late in the set, scoring six unanswered points, including back-to-back blocks by Mila Duarte (Lima, Peru) and Maja Stojanovic (Cacak, Serbia), but the Roadrunners closed out the set with four straight points, two of them on blocks by Sawyer and Kortney Freeland.
The start of the third set went back-and-forth, including Samadan’s 1,000th career collegiate kill that tied the set at 6-6. After kills by Samadan and Mamic pulled the Redhawks into a 15-15 tie, the Roadrunners closed out the set with a 10-2 scoring run, featuring two service aces and a kill by Sydney Haynes.
Seattle U scored the first two points of the fourth set on a kill by Vujcin and a service ace from Duarte, but CSU Bakersfield scored the next five points to pull ahead, 5-2. After the Redhawks pulled to within one at 8-7, the Roadrunners extended their advantage to 17-8 thanks to a 9-1 scoring run, featuring three consecutive kills from Sawyer. CSUB would close out the set and the match thanks to consecutive kills by Sawyer.
Urias and Sawyer led the Roadrunner offense with 15 kills apiece, while Grasso notched a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs. CSUB setter Luiza Martins finished with 43 assists, six digs, and three kills, and Roadrunner libero Sophie Flemion led all players with 18 defensive digs.
Seattle University (14-9, 6-4 WAC) heads to Phoenix, Ariz., to face Grand Canyon Saturday, Oct. 31, starting at 1 p.m. at the GCU Arena. The Redhawks will then play their final three regular season conference matches at home, starting with a matchup against Utah Valley Saturday, Nov. 7, at 1 p.m. at Seattle Academy.