LAKELAND, Fla.—A big night on offense helped Southeastern defeat Ave Maria in straight sets to advance to The Sun Conference semifinal.
Southeastern hit .322 as a team, and totaled 48 kills with just 10 errors to come away with a 25-15, 28-26, 25-16 win.
"We talked a lot about discipline and perseverance and not wanting the other team to make mistakes, but us putting the ball down," said coach
Audrey Goldsberry. "I think the girls really took that to heart and swung hard tonight."
Emily Kalmink had four of her team-high 14 kills in the first set to help the Fire come away with the set in 40 rallies. The Fire also got a boost with four aces in the set, with two from
Elise Moralobo.
"That's been a big focus all season since we've been up and down with it," said Goldsberry of the serve/receive. "We talked about owning what you do and moving on from there, so if it wasn't a good pass, supporting each other and moving on."
Southeastern finished the match with eight aces and allowed just one.
Ave Maria (14-13) had its best showing in the second set, jumping out to a 5-2 lead. McKenna Tyson had eight of her team-high 14 kills during the set as the Gyrenes posted a .459 hitting percentage as a team.
The Fire had a 23-17 lead in the second, but AMU fought back with seven straight points to have a set point at 24-23. Southeastern got a kill from
Emily Boehlein, who finished with 10, then benefit from an attack error to have a set point of their own. The Gyrenes won that point, but the Fire got two kills and an ace from Kalmink to win the set.
Southeastern hit .341 as a team to close out the third set.
Courtney Krause was also in double figures in kills with 10, hitting .286 and added a team-high 15 digs in the back row.
Taylor Gregory was efficient, registering eight kills with a .467 success rate.
Sarah Castillo had her highest assist total in a three-set match this season with 42.
Hannah Kaszubowski (13) and Moralobo (10) also had double-figure dig totals.
The Fire will now face Coastal Georgia with the winner advancing to Saturday's Sun Conference Championship.
