WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.
– Using some late-match toughness, Southeastern University finished strong in all three sets and registered a straight-sets, 3-0, victory over Spartanburg Methodist in the 2024 season opener in the Viper Sports Academy Classic at Keiser University on Friday night.
For the third season in a row, the Fire (1-0) open the campaign with a win. First-year head coach Amanda Phelps starts her tenure with a win in her first match directing the program. Set scores were 25-23, 25-20, 25-23.
"We were a little sloppy tonight as a team, which is to be expected the first time out playing a new system," said Phelps, "but I am proud of us for fighting through it. Tomorrow will be a good test for us and we're looking forward to seeing how the team responds."
In the opening set, SEU jumped out to an early 4-1 lead. Trailing 12-6, the Pioneers recorded eight of the next nine points and edged ahead, 14-13. The Fire answered back with three-straight points, before the teams would be tied at each of 19-19, 20-20 and 22-22. Following a Spartanburg Methodist service error,
Jenna Rogers tipped a SEU kill for the 24-22 advantage, before
Sylvia Liszewski ended the set two points later.
For the second time in as many sets, SEU opened a 4-1 margin to begin set number two. The Pioneers held tough in the early going with slim leads of 8-7 and 12-10. A
Cambry Pope winner and a Jacqueline Christensen service ace capped a 7-1 run for a 17-13 Fire lead. SEU then converted a two-point lead, 20-18, to a key six-point lead, 24-18, with four points in a row.
Spartanburg Methodist started the third set with a 4-1 lead and kept the advantage to an 11-7 score midway through. SEU came back to tie at both 13-13 and 14-14, before Spartanburg Methodist regained the edge at 16-14 and 19-18. For the third time on the night, the Fire capped off the set on fire with three of the final four tallies with Liszewski ending it with her ninth kill.
Pope paced the winning effort with a team-high 11 kills to go with a .304 hitting percentage, four digs and a block assist. Liszewski produced a team-best .563 attack percent with nine winners on 16 swings without an error, blocked a pair of Pioneer swings, and dug two attacks. Both Lopez and
Kennedy Jones downed seven kills apiece with a combined eight digs.
Chapel Cunningham added five kills and hit .300 with two blocks, a dig and one ace.
Setters Ally Postlethwaite and
Haven Speer guided the SEU offense with 35 assists and six digs. Speer accounted for 21 of the assists, three digs, a kill and one block, while Postlethwaite had 14 assists and three digs.
Marysa Connors led the Fire back row with 10 digs and three assists.
The Fire finished the night with 44 kills and a .296 hitting percentage. After a tough opening set hitting wise, SEU hit .407 and .316 for the final two sets. Brantlie Price had top honors for Spartanburg Methodist with six kills and five digs.
SEU returns to the court tomorrow morning for a pair of matches. The first is an 8 a.m. bout with Olivet Nazarene followed immediately by a match against the University of the Cumberlands, which will start at approximately 10 a.m.
