MIAMI GARDENS, Fla.—Despite having just seven players available for Tuesday afternoon's game, the Fire fought hard in a 3-1 loss to St. Thomas.
Southeastern (4-10) had not played a match since October 28
th and hung with the fourth-place Bobcats throughout.
The Fire led the first set 7-3 behind the play of seniors
Morgan Swanger and
Emily Boehlein. Swanger two kills and a block in the first 10 rallies and Boehlein added two kills and an ace.
St. Thomas came back to tie the set at 10, and held a four point lead (21-17) later in the set. The Fire outscored the Bobcats 7-4 to tie the set at 24 and force extra points. STU took the set with a kill and an ace.
In the second, the Fire didn't trail by four or more until the 28
th rally, falling behind 16-12, then got the deficit down to one point on four occasions, but the Bobcats eventually came away with a 25-22 win.
During the third, SEU forced 11 Bobcat attacking errors to win the set 25-17. Senior
Hannah Kaszubowski made her 2020 debut, picking up three kills in the set, as did junior
Jordyn Stiger.
In the fourth, the Fire ran out of gas as the Bobcats built a 10-point lead late and posted their best hitting percentage in a set during the match at .235 in the fourth to win 25-17.
Swanger and Boehlein each had nine kills to pace the SEU attack.
Ashtyn O'Shea had a team-high 33 assists.
On defense,
Katie Chillura made her season debut with 29 digs at libero to pace the Fire. Boehlein added 17 digs and was also in on a block. Swanger had 14 dis and three blocks, and Kaszubowski had 15 digs.
The Fire will close out the regular season on Wednesday at 1 p.m. as they host Keiser.
