For the fourth time this season, the Seattle University volleyball team rallied from a 2-1 match deficit, winning the final two sets for an important 3-2 victory (25-18, 19-25, 17-25, 25-21, 15-10) over Louisiana Tech Thursday night in a Western Athletic Conference match at the Thomas Assembly Center.
After tying the match with a fourth-set 25-21 victory, Seattle U started the fifth set by winning three of the first four points thanks to kills by Alec Goodrie (Springfield, Ore.), Andi Lowrance (Phoenix, Ariz.), and Kaytlyn Dill (Bothell, Wash.). After kills by Gabryel Ording and Maria Coelho put Louisiana Tech ahead, 5-4, the Redhawks responded with a 6-2 scoring run, including two kills by Karli Pedone (Granite Bay, Calif.). A kill by Dill brought about match point, and an attack error by Louisiana Tech gave Seattle U the set, 15-10, and the match.
Louisiana Tech (3-17, 0-8 WAC) scored three of the first four points of the match, but then made three straight attack errors to give the Redhawks the 4-3 lead. Seattle U went on a 7-1 scoring run to pull ahead, 13-7, and the two teams basically traded points the rest of the set, with Dill closing out the opening set with a kill, 25-18.
After making only one attack error in the first set, Seattle U collected more errors than kills in the second set, as Louisiana Tech went on a 10-2 scoring run to pull ahead, 13-5. Down by eight points, the Redhawks outscored the Lady Techsters, 5-1, concluding with consecutive kills by Pedone and Dill, to close the deficit to four, but kills by Bridget Benditz and Fenix Calderon allowed Louisiana Tech to win the second set, 25-19, and even the match at one set apiece.
In the third set, Louisiana Tech won three of the first points, but Seattle U responded with three unanswered points to take a short-lived 6-5 lead. An 8-1 Lady Techster scoring run put the home team ahead, 16-9, and the Redhawks could not get much closer, as a kill by Calderon and a block from Coelho and Ording ended the third set in Louisiana Tech's favor, 25-17.
Dill notched her sixth straight double-double with 24 kills and 15 digs, while Pedone contributed 11 kills to the winning effort. Jacquie Brice (Fullerton, Calif.) dished out 45 assists to go along with nine digs, and libero Lani Beadle (Seattle, Wash.) led the Redhawks with 25 defensive digs and two service aces.
Seattle University (7-11, 2-6 WAC) will make the drive from Ruston to the Dallas Metroplex Friday in anticipation of Saturday's match against the UT Arlington Mavericks starting at 2 p.m. Central time (12 noon Pacific time). Links to live stats and live video are available on the volleyball schedule page at GoSeattleU.com.
