Martina Samadan and Iris Ivanis jump to block a spike during a volleyball set against California State University Bakersfield. Despite the effort, the Seattle University team went on to lose the match 3-1.

Seattle University women’s volleyball had their first home game loss Thursday. They played an intense match against the Bakersfield Roadrunners from California State University. Seattle U played a great game, but unfortunately, after their four sets, 18 blocks, 79 digs, 16 aces and 118 kills, they lost the match, but not without a fight.

The Redhawks came out strong winning the first set 25 to 13. Even when the men’s swim team stripped down to their Speedos, they stayed focused on the game, undistracted.

However, in the next set, the Roadrunners made a comeback. Both teams played hard as the lead went back and forth between the teams. But, even after several dive and rolls from Iris Ivanis, Bakersfield won the set 20 to 25.

The Redhawks started the third set hopeful that they could turn the match back in their favor. They lost the first point of the set due to a lack of communication, but quickly won it back. At one point the whole crowd went wild as the refs made an extremely controversial “touch-on-block” call. The teams evened the score over and over: 7-7, 8-8, 9-9, 13-13, 16-16, 18-18. This continued until Seattle U’s Martina Samadan went down with a sprained ankle. The Redhawks continued to fight, but Bakersfield pushed harder, winning the set 22 to 25. But it wasn’t enough to win the match; they had to go on to a fourth set.

This final set was Seattle U’s last chance to turn the game around. They started off with an ace and continued on with extremely high jumps and some impressive saves. Unfortunately, the Roadrunners eventually got the better of them: at 18 to 24, the Redhawks would have needed a miracle to win the set. Bakersfield served the ball and with a sudden ace the game was over. Final score: 18 to 25.

Despite their loss, the Redhawks played a great match and they’re staying positive. Ivanis said that in comparison to other games this season this game was an improvement.

“[It was] much better; we actually showed something that we hadn’t shown in a long time. The first set was a huge moment for us because we showed what we can do, we showed that we can be very dangerous for our opponent. I think we’re going to be much better [in the future] than today,” said Ivanis.

Lani Beadle agreed, “We’re taking steps to where we need to be. The first set we played just like we did against Nevada, but our energy dwindled down each set. I think we’re a much better team than this. We should’ve beaten them,” said Beadle.
Overall, the team was proud of their performance and has high hopes for the remainder of the season.