West Palm Beach, Fla. - The Southeastern women's volleyball was defeated by TSC rival Keiser 3-1 in the last regular season game this Saturday afternoon.
The game was an important one for both teams as for the Seahawks a victory secured them a first place finish in the conference.
In the first set, with Kenzie Thorton serving for Keiser, the Seahwks took a quick 6-0 lead over the Fire. Southeastern took their first timeout of the game.
Junior Courtney Krause earned the first kill and point for the Fire. However, Keiser went on another run scoring four points and taking a 10-1 lead over SEU.
Then, a serving error by Keiser and kill from senior Taylor Gregory brought the score to 13-3, and the Fire would take their second timeout of the game.
With the score being 16-7 for Keiser, Southeastern mishandled the ball and shortly after, SEU miscommunicated on a service receive, giving Keiser two more points. Keiser would close out the first set with a 25-12 win over Southeastern.
Southeastern looked to turn things around in the second set, getting on the board first and taking a 2-0 advantage over the Seahawks. The Fire continued their momentum as they lead 14-5 in the second set, forcing Keiser to take their first timeout. Right after the break, Sarah Castillo earned two back-to-back kills giving SEU an 11-point lead with the score 16-5.
The Fire were two points away from securing the second game, until Keiser went on a four-point run, making SEU take a timeout. Returning to play, Keiser went on another four-point run, and again the Fire took another timeout. After the second break, KU earned two more points, totaling a 10-point run.
The score was now 23-20 for the Fire, and luckily Keiser's streak was ended by an attacking error conceded by KU and a kill by SEU's Krause to end the second set with a 25-21 victory for the Fire to tie the game 1-1.
At the start of the third set, Southeastern and Keiser were toe-to-toe as the score was 4-4. The Fire gained a 10-7 lead with SEU recording a total of six kills.
The biggest lead in the game was seen in the third as Keiser lead 23-19 over SEU. Then, after a power outage in KU's Student Life Center later in the set, the Seahawks secured their last two points, taking set three 25-20.
Keiser looked to close out the game in the fourth set, and they succeeded as they won 25-16 in the fourth, earning a 3-1 victory of the Fire.
Southeastern finished with a total of 41 kills, in comparison to Keiser's 67 on the afternoon. Senior, Gregory lead the Fire with 10 kills. Following behind her was Krause with a total of nine.
Senior, Castillo obtained 32 of Southeastern's 37 assists on the day. Castillo also had the highest hitting percentage of .400 for the Fire.
Despite the defeat, Keiser had a hard time handling the Fire's defensive plays as SEU finished with 11 blocks. Leading Southeastern was Gregory with six and Castillo with five.
Southeastern finish the regular season 20-8 overall, and 11-4 in conference play.
The Fire will be back in action on Tuesday, November 12th as they host the TSC Tournament Quarterfinal at 7 p.m. Their opponent is still TBD.
