SEATTLE - Seattle University volleyball returns home for the first time in two weeks to host Pepperdine in a rematch at the Redhawk Center on Thursday night at 6 PM where the team will take a trip down memory lane with throwback music and tie-dye t-shirt making for the first 50 fans.
The Redhawks (6-10, 0-5 WCC) fell to the Waves (9-7, 3-2 WCC) 3-0 at the end of September in Malibu during their first weekend of conference action. Since then, SU seeks its first win in the West Coast Conference, while the Waves have gone 2-1 in their last three appearances, falling to Santa Clara in four sets while sweeping both San Francisco and Washington State.
Sophomore Madyn Cervellera leads the Redhawks with 220 kills on the season, a pillar for the Redhawk offense in her first year in Seattle. The outside hitter moved to 13 straight matches of double-digit kills while in tandem surpassing her career season best in kills against Gonzaga. In her debut season at Cal Poly Humboldt, the Lake Stevens native tallied 215 kills across 90 sets. Her 220 kills currently ranks fifth in the WCC.
Junior Teagan Melton ranks second on the team with 122 kills. The opposite averages 1.88 a set to rank 27th in the conference. Redshirt junior Yasemin Elmas sits six kills from triple digits on the year, with 94.
Guiding the Redhawks from the service line is freshman Petra Fritz. She ranks first in the WCC with 28 aces, while averaging .50 aces per set, which ranks her tied-26th in the country. Fellow freshman Katelynn Albano ranks second on the team with 21 aces, which is tied-8th in the WCC.
Sophomore setters Grace Jones and Anae Asuncion orchestrate the offense, with Jones leading the duo with 4.56 assists per set for 237 total assists. Asuncion follows suit with 3.93 assists per set and 216 assists on the season.
Leading the Redhawk defense is Elmas, who holds 56.0 blocks through 62 sets, a mark that ranks ninth in the WCC. Junior Taniyah Pruitt follows just behind at tenth with 54.0 blocks in 49 sets.
Patrolling the floor is Albano, who sits tied tenth in the league with 179 digs on the year. Cevellera also sits in the top-15 in the conference with 142 digs.
SU ranks top-five in the conference in aces (105), total blocks (135.0), block assists (194) and solo blocks (38) through three weeks of WCC play.
Thursday’s contest is the first time the Waves will make the trip up to Seattle, with the two previous meetings occurring in Malibu. The Redhawks trail the all-time series 0-2 dating back to 2009.
The Redhawks remain at home through the weekend, hosting the WCC’s current leader San Diego on Saturday at 1 PM.
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