CANTON, Ohio - The Saginaw Valley State University volleyball team conintued their 2014 season today (9/27) with a loss against Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) opponent Malone University 3-2 before falling to the #6 Wheeling Jesuit, 3-0. Both matches were played at Malone University beginning at 1:00 pm and 3:40 pm, respectively.
Match #1 - Malone University
The Cardinals came out strong, taking the first set 25-20 and the second 25-14. The Pioneers fought back in the third and fourth sets however, taking them by scores of 25-17 and 25-19. The fifth and final set ended with Saginaw Valley attempting to fight back from a 14-10 deficit to be narrowly outscored 17-15.
Junior middle hitter Morgan Eddy was named Chilli's "Player of the Match", adding a team-high 13 kills to the Cardinals effort to finish hitting .300 on the day. Eddy also posted a team-high six blocks for Saginaw Valley.
Freshman Sidney Scott was able to put away 11 kills and four blocks while Brooke Tiller posted 24 digs and two aces for the Cardinals. Monica Skrabut added 25 assists and Kelly Vellucci had 24 assists for the match.
Saginaw Valley was able to hold their opponents to just a .095 hitting percentage.
"Malone played very well and took advantage of some of our errors." said SVSU head coach Will Stanton. "They gained a lot of confidence in winning set three and we weren't able to get our offense going again."
Match #2 - Wheeling Jesuit
Saginaw Valley struggled against the highly ranked (#6) Wheeling Jesuit, but battled hard in the first set before dropping 25-20. Sets two and three saw the same outcome for the Cardinals, falling 25-16 in set two and 25-9 in the third.
Andrea Brigham was named Chilli's "Player of the Match", posting a team-high eight kills and one block for the match. Kelly Vellucci added 26 helpers and eight digs for the Cardinals while Brooke Tiller recorded 12 digs.
"Wheeling was very consistent and I think four matches in one week caught up with us. We fought hard and had some great rallies, but in the end WJU just had too much offense for us at this point in the season," said Stanton.
Saginaw Valley's record now stands at 7-5 overall and 4-3 in GLIAC after their weekend in Ohio. The Cardinals will return to action at home next Friday (10/3) for a conference match against the University of Findlay set to begin at 7:00 pm.
