Volleyball Falls to Receiving Votes Bobcats

LAKELAND, Fla.- Southeastern volleyball (10-3, 2-1 SUN) dropped their first Sun Conference match of the season today, falling 3-1 to receiving votes St. Thomas University at home.
 
After a slow start for the Fire that saw the Bobcats coast to a 25-14 set one win, Southeastern regrouped and responded in a big way, taking set two 25-23 after hitting a match-high .345.
 
The Bobcat offense recorded 34 total kills in the next two sets, taking set three 25-21 with 16 kills and set four 25-22 with 18 kills.
 
The defense of Chapel Cunningham, Emilia Harding, and Tatyana Lyons kept the Fire within striking distance in the last three sets with Cunningham and Harding each recording six blocks and Lyons tallying four.
 
Harding also led the offense with 11 kills while Lyons recorded eight.
 
The Bobcats countered the Fire's worst offensive set in set one, recording 14 kills to the Fire's six to jump out to a 1-0 lead.
 
Cambry Pope got the Fire on the board first in the second set with a kill as the Fire extended the lead to 10-4 after a 6-2 run behind five Bobcat errors. Three errors by the Fire and two kills by the Bobcats then tied the set at 11. Later in the set, the Bobcats were forced to take a timeout after four consecutive points by the Fire put them ahead 21-17. The Fire managed to hold the lead for the remainder of the set to take the 25-23 win.
 
Set three began as a back-and-forth battle but 10 unanswered points by the Bobcats gave them a substantial 15-6 lead, a hole the Fire were unable to dig out of. The home team managed to cut the deficit to just two after a seven-point run backed by three consecutive Fire blocks by Cunningham, Harding, and Pope but were held off by the Bobcats for a 25-21 set three score.
 
Despite a match-high 13 kills from the Fire in set four, the Bobcats put the match away with their own match-high 18 kills. Kills by Grace Petty and Pope as well as a service ace by Alexandra Postlethwaite tied the set at nine but three consecutive kills and back-to-back attack errors pushed the Bobcat lead to six. Cunningham then went to the service line four times to bring the score to 16-15 and force a Bobcat timeout. Leading by just one with a 22-21 score, the Bobcats managed three kills in the next four plays to take the match.
 
Southeastern will next take on Warner University next Saturday at home at 7 p.m.