LAKELAND, Fla. - The Southeastern women's volleyball team earned a 3-1 victory over TSC opponent St. Thomas to advance to 16-6 overall on the season, and 7-3 in-conference play.
SEU has now won seven-straight Sun Conference matches, a program record.
The Fire were the first to get on the board, however St. Thomas would go on a five-point run to take an early 5-1 lead over the Fire. The Bobcats would maintain a confident lead over Southeastern until later on in the set, the score difference would be by a deficit of two for the Fire with STU leading 21-19 over SEU.
St. Thomas would secure the first set with a 25-22 win to take the first set and lead 1-0 over the Fire. STU's attack was vital in the first set, as Bobcat players Tyran Chenault and Arianna Bolinger were hitting .500 and 4.00 percentages. Freshman-setter, Kyleigh Beecham ended the first set with 12 total assists.
Leading the Fire in their attack was freshman, Baylee Warneke who finished with 6 kills and a hitting percentage of .385 in the first set.
Southeastern looking to bounce back, would take the second set 27-25 versus St. Thomas. At the start of the second set, the game was back-and-forth, coming to a 5-5 tie. The Fire would then go on a five-point run to take a 10-5 lead over STU.
St. Thomas not so easily giving up, would catch up with Southeastern, and tie the game 19-19. For the remainder of the set, there would be several ties and lead changes, until the game would come to a 25 all tie and senior-captain, Emily Kalmink would hit two straight kills for the Fire to take the set 27-25.
SEU would continue their momentum into the third set, as they defeated the Bobcats 25-18. After three sets of play, Kalmink would record 12 total kills. Also, three other players would finish the third with nine kills, including Emily Boehlein, Hannah Kaszubowski, and Warneke.
Going into the fourth, Southeastern leads 2-1 against St. Thomas. Throughout the fourth set, the game would be toe-to-toe, with the biggest lead being a three-point advantage. STU would lead the fourth set 24-23, forcing Southeastern to take a timeout.
After the break, STU would hit a service error to tie the game 24 all. Then, the Bobcats would perform a setting error for the Fire to take the lead 25-24. Kalmink would earn a kill from the assist by Sarah Castillo to earn a 26-24 victory in the fourth set, and take the game 3-1 against STU.
Castillo ended the afternoon with 49 total kills.
Key defensive players for the Fire include Kaszubowski, Castillo, Grace Ball, and Katie Chillura. Southeastern obtained a total of 11 kills on the day. Blocking leaders for SEU were Boehlein (7), Taylor Gregory (6), and Kalmink (5).
Southeastern will be back in action on October 23rd, as they face off against Ave Maria. The match is set to begin at 7 p.m. in Ave Maria, Fla.
