SAN FRANCISCO - After locking up its first conference victory as the West Coast Conference’s newest member against San Francisco, the Seattle University volleyball team (8-20, 2-15 WCC) was unable to get the series sweep, falling to the Dons (7-20, 5-12 WCC) 3-0 at the Sobrato Center on Thursday night.
Freshman Petra Fritz paced both teams with 16 kills for her third straight match recording double digit kills. The outside hitter also picked up a block and four digs on the defensive end. Redshirt junior Yasemin Elmas secured a .526 hitting percentage, collecting a season high tying 11 kills on 19 attempts with one error. She paced the Redhawks with 2.0 blocks.
Sophomore Madyn Cervellera and junior Teagan Melton combined for 14 kills and 10 digs, while senior Marley Hardgrave hit .364 posting five kills on 11 attempts with one error.
Redshirt junior Elif Teksoy guided the offense with 34 assists, while finishing one dig shy of a double-double, tacking on nine digs on the defensive front. She also posted an ace and a kill. Freshman Katelynn Albano finished with seven digs.
The Redhawks combined for 47 kills, 37 assists, an ace, 2.0 blocks and 37 digs, leading the Dons in kills by six. San Francisco made use of 21 SU attack errors.
Seattle U opened the evening on a 4-1 run behind a kill from Melton and San Francisco errors before building a five point lead after another substantial 4-0 run led by Cervellera and Hardgrave. Teksoy picked up her ace to aid SU’s 12-7 advantage. The Dons came back to even the set 13-13 after a 6-1 run through the middle of the set before Hardgrave broke through the tie with a kill.
Three more ties would be exchanged before the Dons led the Redhawks by three. Cervellera and Elmas brought SU back within one, 18-19, before Hardgrave and a USF error leveled the late set 20-all. Melton and Fritz secured set point but a 4-0 run by the Dons disrupted SU’s bid for the first set 26-24.
The Redhawks once again started out 4-1 before the Dons came back to twist the second set in their favor 7-5. SU would not go on a run until the late middle of the set, pulling back within the Dons 15-17. A late 3-0 run by San Francisco saw the Redhawks trail by seven before back-to-back USF errors kept the Redhawks alive, but a serving error from Seattle U put the Redhawks down two sets.
Seattle U came out ready to avoid the sweep, jumping out 6-3 with a high offensive effort from Elmas. Fritz and Cervellera teamed up to play keep away, pushing the Redhawks on 12-11. Five ties and five one point changes came about before the Dons broke through with a 4-0 to lead 16-20. The Redhawks came back with a 5-1 run led by Fritz and Melton, with Fritz tying the set 23-23 with her 16th kill. The Dons would lock down the final two points to defeat the Redhawks in three sets.
The Redhawks return to action for the final time in 2025, traveling over to Santa Clara to revisit the Broncos in Santa Clara.
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