A season-best hitting performance, as well as a service game that kept Utah Valley off-balance all day long, enabled Seattle University to sweep the Wolverines, 3-0 (26-24, 25-13, 25-15), Saturday in a Western Athletic Conference volleyball match at the Seattle Academy Gymnasium.
Seattle U’s victory, coupled with a loss by CSU Bakersfield to UT Rio Grande Valley, allowed the Redhawks to move into a tie for second place in the WAC standings along with the Roadrunners and Wolverines. With two conference matches remaining, those three teams will battle for the second seed in the WAC Tournament, which includes a bye directly into the tournament semifinals.
“We had a great week of practice, and to see it translate onto the court was really run. We brought intensity, continually communicated with each other, stuck with the game plan, and stayed in the moment,” Seattle U head coach James Finley said. “Kerry (Lane) had a great match, as she scattered the offense to different players, making some tough sets along the way. But today was truly a team effort, being able to pass the ball and play great defense, plus we kept them out of system with our serve.”
Two kills and a block assist by Matea Mamic (Split, Croatia) helped the Redhawks take an early 6-1 lead in the opening set, and then another 6-1 Redhawk run, featuring two kills, a block assist, and a service ace from Jelena Vujcin (Becej, Serbia), extended the Seattle U lead to 13-5. Utah Valley responded with six unanswered points, led by two service aces from Abby Jensen, to close to within two at 13-11.
Down 17-13 after a service ace by Kerry Lane (Tucson, Ariz.), Lauren Bakker led the Wolverines’ comeback with three kills and a block assist as Utah Valley took the lead at 21-19 with an 8-2 scoring run. A kill by Martina Samadan (Split, Croatia) and a service ace from Vujcin tied the set at 21-21, and the Redhawks would eventually close out the first set on kills by Maja Stojanovic (Cacak, Serbia) and Mamic.
Utah Valley (13-12, 8-4 WAC) scored the first three points of the second set on a kill and a block assist by Jaramey Barney along with a service ace from Sabrina Tanner. Seattle U responded with a 10-2 scoring run, led by Vujcin with three kills and Samadan with consecutive service aces. Later in the set, the Redhawks put together a 9-2 scoring run, featuring two kills and a block assist apiece by Samadan and Vujcin, to clinch the second set.
Mamic opened the third set with back-to-back kills, and the Redhawks would later go on a 10-2 scoring run, with Mamic leading the way with four kills and a block assist, to open their lead to 17-8. Utah Valley scored four straight points to close its deficit to five, but the Wolverines would get no closer, as Seattle U went on an 8-3 scoring run to finish the match.
Mamic and Vujcin led Seattle U with 13 kills apiece, with Mamic also earning three service aces and six digs while Vujcin picked up two service aces and four total blocks. Samadan finished with 12 kills against just one attack error in 19 attempts for a .579 hitting percentage. Lane collected 41 assists, two service aces, and five digs, and Iris Ivanis (Pozega, Croatia) paced the backline with 11 digs, followed by Kirstin Schauble (Meadow Vista, Calif.) with nine digs.
As a team, Seattle U hit .387, the highest single-match hitting percentage this season for the Redhawks, plus they tied their three-set best for the season with 12 service aces. The .387 hitting percentage is the fifth-best in a match by any Seattle U volleyball team.
Seattle University (16-9, 8-4 WAC) continues its homestand next week, first taking on conference leader New Mexico State Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 7:30 p.m. at Seattle Academy. That will be followed by the conference regular season finale against UT Rio Grande Valley Saturday, Nov. 14, starting at 1 p.m. and featuring Senior Day ceremonies honoring Samadan. Both matches will be streamed online through the WAC Digital Network (www.wacsports.com/live).