SAU opens season with three wins in St. Louis
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Cottey | 25 | 15 | 17 | 24 | 1 |
|
St. Ambrose (3-0) | 22 | 25 | 25 | 26 | 3 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Lincoln (Ill.) (2-3) | 25 | 23 | 22 | 26 | 1 |
|
St. Ambrose (1-0) | 20 | 25 | 25 | 28 | 3 |
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
St. Ambrose (2-0) | 25 | 25 | 13 | 25 | 3 |
|
Freed-Hardeman | 23 | 17 | 25 | 14 | 1 |
St. Ambrose officially opened its abbreviated fall season by winning all three matches at the Eutectics Classic hosted by the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy in St. Louis, Mo.
The Bees defeated Lincoln College Friday night before taking down Freed-Hardeman and Cottey College Saturday. All three matches went four sets.
SAU dropped its first set of the year before rallying for a 20-25, 25-23, 25-22, 28-26 win over Lincoln.
After claiming the second and third sets, the Bees trailed 22-19 late in the fourth. Back-to-back kills from Jill Kavalauskas and a Lynx hitting error evened the score. With Lincoln up 24-22, Kavalauskas came through again, first with a kill, then with an ace, to fight off the first two of four set points for the Lynx. Jessica Hemm had two late kills to give St. Ambrose a 27-26 lead and the Bees closed out the win on a Lincoln hitting error.
Kavalauskas led all players with 23 kills and added a team-best 15 digs. Meredith Siebers collected 14 kills and Hemm finished with nine. Amber Tomlin had a match-best 35 assists and MacKenzie Gropel recorded 19. Maicee Pierce (14) and Gropel (13) joined Kavalauskas with double-digit digs.
Kavalauskas had 15 kills and 24 digs in the Bees' 25-23, 25-17, 13-25, 25-14 win over Freed-Hardeman to open play Saturday.
Siebers put down 13 kills, Hemm had six and Rachael Dion and Riley Epperson each recorded five. Gropel (13) and Tomlin (12) combined for 25 of the team's 43 assists. Hannah Sondag was credited with six. Pierce picked up 17 digs while Sondag registered nine. Hemm was involved in seven on SAU's 10 total blocks in the win.
St. Ambrose closed out the weekend with a 22-25, 25-15, 25-17, 26-24 win over Cottey.
After letting the first set slip away, SAU dominated the second and third and led comfortably throughout the early stages of the fourth set before allowing Cottey to get back into the match. The Comets used a late 9-0 run to grab a 24-22 lead and appeared poised to force a decisive fifth set. But Kavalauskas collected three of her match-high 14 kills after that point, and those kills and another from Gropel helped the Bees close out the win with four straight points.
Gropel and Siebers each backed up Kavalauskas with 11 kills apiece. Gropel also added 13 assists and 11 digs. Tomlin led all players with 18 assists. Kavalauskas had 16 digs and Aleah Wight picked up nine.
St. Ambrose will visit Clarke next Saturday.