Box Score LAKELAND, Fla. – The atmosphere was everything a home opener should be, as the Fire won their fifth straight, beating New College of Florida, 3-1, on Wednesday night at a packed Furnace (25-21, 25-19, 20-25, 25-18).
The Fire finished strong in the opening set with the three finals points and made a mid-set run in second number two capped by a Sylvia Liszewki winner for a 25-19 score. Yarelis Lopez laced two aces to start the fourth set, Kennedy Jones downed a kill and then Lopez added two more aces for a 6-0 start. SEU never trailed the rest of the way, as Haven Speer served her lone ace to end the match.
Jones and Cambry Pope both produced double-doubles to lead the SEU effort. Jones downed 12 kills to go with 13 digs and two blocks. Pope dug 11 attacks and had 10 kills along with two blocks of her own. Olivia Williams chipped in eight kills and three blocks and Liszewski added seven kills and two blocks. Chapel Cunningham rounded out the front line with six kills and four block assists.
Lopez had five kills and four digs. Alexandra Postlethwaite narrowly missed a double-double with 23 assists, nine digs and two aces, while Speer recorded 22 assists. In the back row, Marysa Connors led the effort with 22 digs.
SEU returns to action on Saturday afternoon in a 2 p.m. road match at Ave Maria University.
With the win, the Fire now has won five matches in a row and ran their season mark to 7-2. SEU also improved to 2-0 in Sun Conference play, while New College fell to 2-4 and 0-2 in the Conference.
