Full Team Effort Sends Fire to Championship

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla.- Southeastern volleyball will compete for a Sun Conference Tournament championship tomorrow after beating Keiser University in four sets today.
 
The Fire had three different players record double-doubles in the hard-fought battle. Grace Petty recorded a team-high 18 kills with 13 digs and three service aces. Cambry Pope tallied 15 kills and a team-high 21 digs while Alexandra Postlethwaite had 51 assists and 15 digs, both season-highs for the setter.
 
Emilia Harding hit .387 on the match with 15 kills and two blocks.
 
Additionally, Tatyana Lyons recorded four blocks, the second of which was her 200^th career block.
 
The Fire dominated set one, hitting .324 and holding the Seahawks to just a .026 hitting percentage. Petty went to the line five straight times during a 7-0 run to begin the set. Four straight kills by the Fire then advanced the Fire lead to 11-2, a substantial enough lead to ride to a 25-14 set one win.
 
Set two saw the Fire go ahead 2-0 with a 25-19 win despite a .171 attack percentage. Petty again began the set on a run at the line as the Fire would jump ahead 7-0 behind two kills from Harding and Pope. Two Seahawk errors and two kills brought the Fire lead to 14-13. Out of a timeout, the Fire then regrouped for a 6-1 run as they would go on to take the set concluded by a Petty kill.
 
The Seahawks recorded a match-high 17 kills in set three to take the set 25-23 and avoid being swept by the Fire for the third time this season. The SUN Player of the Year, Brooklyn Slater recorded four kills during six consecutive points from the Seahawks to give her team a 9-5 lead. Two kills by Petty and a service ace from Jacqueline Christianson then tied the set at 13. A 7-1 run by the Seahawks put them ahead 22-19 as three more kills by Slater clinched the third set.
 
A hard-fought set four ended with a 25-22 Fire win to clinch their spot in tomorrow's championship match. Trailing 7-3, the Fire were forced to work from behind with a gradual comeback being capped off by two kills from Chapel Cunningham to trail 8-7. Neither team led by more than one point until three consecutive points from the Seahawks forced a Fire timeout trailing 20-18. The Fire countered with three-straight points to retake the 22-21 edge. Back-to-back kills by Petty clinched the match for the Fire.
 
Head coach Audrey Goldsberry stated, "To see the team dig deep, step-up, and fight back was nice to see since we've been doing it all year."
 
Southeastern will take on top-seeded St. Thomas in the championship tomorrow at 4 p.m.
 
"To have the opportunity to fight against St. Thomas tomorrow in a championship match is exciting and we're really looking forward to a battle," stated Goldsberry. "We want it to be difficult, we want to fight, and we want them to fight and we're excited to see the outcome."