CHENEY, Wash. - Sophomore Madyn Cervellera led the Seattle University volleyball team against Eastern Washington with her second 20 kill performance of the season, but the effort fell short as the Eagles (2-8) defense clamped down for the 3-2 (27-25, 19-25, 25-17, 22-25, 8-15) victory over the Redhawks (6-4) at Reese Court on Thursday evening.
Cervellera went for her sixth double-double in a row, posting 14 digs along with her 20 kills. Redshirt sophomore Teagan Melton finished with 12 kills, two shy of her career high, hitting .400 on 25 attempts and two errors. Junior Adee Butler tallied nine kills, finishing one shy of a double-double to match Cervellera, recording 11 digs.
Leading the orchestration of the Redhawk offense was sophomore Grace Jones, who recorded 30 assists against the Eagles, shattering her previous career best. She grabbed an ace in two digs in all five sets of play. Fellow sophomore setter Anae Asuncion led all Redhawks with three aces, a new career high, while adding 23 assists and five digs.
Freshman Katelynn Albano grabbed four aces to lead both teams, marking a new season high for the libero. Her 21 digs paced the Redhawk defense and were also a season best.
Three Redhawks went for 2.0 blocks on the evening, with junior Taniyah Pruitt leading the trio with two solo blocks. Butler and redshirt junior Yasemin Elmas also contributed 2.0 total blocks, each grabbing a solo block.
Together, Seattle U combined for 61 kills, 10 aces, 65 digs and 6.0 blocks, limiting Eastern Washington to 56 kills, five aces and 61 digs. The Eagles captured 21.0 blocks on the evening, tipping the scales in their favor late in the match.
The Redhawks earned the hard fought opening set, pushing for extra points after the Eagles wrestled back to tie it late in the first. Off a challenge to grant the Redhawks set point, Butler connected with the kill to clinch the 27-25 opening set victory.
Eastern responded with a runaway, jumping out by four early 7-3. The Eagles rattled off an 8 points to force another SU timeout, claiming the 15-10 lead. Cervellera and Butler pulled the Redhawks within three late in the set behind a kill and a block respectively, but the Eagles would lock up set two with a kill and block of their own.
SU quickly responded in the third set, leaping out to an 8-3 lead behind two aces from Asuncion. Back-to-back kills from the Redhawks pushed the lead up six, 11-5 forcing Eastern to take the timeout. A kill from Cervellera built the lead further, 21-11 in favor of the Redhawks. Fritz forced set point with a kill before the Eagles rattled off two scores, but Fritz locked down the 2-1 set lead for the Redhawks with a kill.
Once more the pendulum swung in favor of the Eagles as they went up 8-4 early in set four. Out of the Redhawk timeout, Butler posted back-to-back kills and Albano grabbed an ace to pull back within one. Eastern responded with a 6-0 run before an Eagle error cut off the surge. The Redhawks stayed composed, pulling back within four off another Albano ace and Eagle error. SU faced set point three times, with two kills from Cervellera keeping the set alive, but a final kill from Eastern from level the match 2-sets all.
After starting in a back-and-forth, the Redhawks fell into an early set deficit behind Eastern’s blocks. They rallied back to pull within one, 7-8, off a combined freshmen effort. Fritz grabbed two kills and Albano her fourth ace to force Eastern to take a timeout. The Eagles clinched the match behind a 7-1 run, recording three blocks in the process to down the Redhawks in five sets.
Seattle U completes its nonconference slate with a neutral site contest against Montana tomorrow afternoon at Reese Court. The match tips at 2 PM PT. Live stats will be available and the match will not be streamed.
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