EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Facing Air Force (7-0) for the second time this season, the Seattle University volleyball team (5-2) locked up an early set lead before falling to the Falcons 3-1 (25-23, 14-25, 23-25, 20-25) in First Community Arena on Thursday evening.
Sophomore Madyn Cervellera led the Redhawks with 13 kills, posting a double-double in digs and kills, securing 12 digs. The outside hitter also matched a career best two aces.
Freshman Petra Fritz tallied her third match with four aces, leading both squads with four. She also tacked on seven kills and eight digs.
Juniors Adee Butler and Taniyah Pruitt combined for ten kills, with Pruitt pacing the offense with a .300 hitting percentage. Pruitt also led the Redhawks on the defensive end, tallying 3.0 blocks, including a solo block.
Sophomores Grace Jones and Anae Asuncion combined for 29 assists. Asuncion led the pair with 15 on the night and one ace.
Matching Cervellera’s two aces was redshirt junior Yasemin Elmas, who also matched her career high in aces with two.
Together, the Redhawks combined for nine aces, 47 digs, 40 kills and 4.0 blocks.
A Fritz ace gave the Redhawks an early set lead at the start of the match before the Falcons surged up by three. Seattle U would reclaim the lead 10-9 after a Falcon service error. Two more errors from Air Force put the Redhawks up 15-12 into the media timeout.
Kills from Butler secured the race to 20 points for SU before Air Force rallied to level the set 21-21. A kill and an ace from Elmas, along with a Falcon error, forced set point before redshirt sophomore Teagan Melton slammed home the final kill to secure the 1-0 lead for Seattle U 25-23.
A sluggish start led to an early deficit in set two that would prove difficult to overcome. After trailing by as many as five, the Redhawks pulled within three before a 5-0 run later in the set pushed the point differential to ten. Despite avoiding back-to-back set points, the Falcons locked down set two 25-14.
The Redhawks flipped the script in the third set, combining for 12 kills and four aces, spearheaded by another Fritz ace to start the set. A later kill from Fritz and a block from Elmas and Melton pushed the Redhawks up 9-5 to force an Air Force timeout. A 6-0 swing by the Falcons would put SU down two before another ace by Friz leveled the set 11-11.
The Redhawks trailed by four before an ace from Cervellera capped a 4-0 run by Seattle U to make it 19-all and force another Falcon timeout. A 5-2 run forced set point, which the Redhawks avoided with back-to-back kills from Fritz, but the effort fell short as a final Falcon kill gave Air Force the 2-1 match lead.
No stranger to five set matches, the Redhawks quickly went on the offensive, driving up the lead behind two kills from Pruitt. A barrage of service errors through the fourth set came as both an advantage and disadvantage to both teams as ties and one point leads were traded back and forth. Tied 19-all, the Falcons rattled off a 5-0 run to force match point. Cervellera kept the Redhawks alive with a kill but one final push by the Falcons downed the Redhawks in four sets.
Seattle U returns to action tomorrow for its first ever meeting with Austin Peay. The Redhawks return to First Community Arena for a 1:30 PM PT match with live streaming and live stats available for the contest.
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