Seattle U Takes Down Chicago State in Five

It was a long Thursday night at the Seattle Academy Gymnasium.

Matea Mamic after serving an ace against Chicago State.

Despite dropping the first two sets to a gritty Chicago State team, the Redhawks rallied back to victory by winning the last three sets.

Martina Samadan, Matea Mamic and Kerry Lane all had double-double performances to lift the Redhawks over Chicago State. Samadan notched 10 kills and 12 total blocks, the second most all-time in a single match for the Redhawks. There were well distributed statistics throughout the Redhawks’ lineup, with Maja Stojanovic, Ceci Wu, Mila Duarte and Kerry Lane all earning a handful of kills.

Seattle University jumped out to an early lead in the first set, but the Cougars chipped away at the lead forcing a Redhawk timeout. Chicago State evened the score at 21-21 after a handful of Redhawk errors, rallying with a final kill by Elli Woinowsky to win the first set 23-25.

Chicago State came out firing in the second set. The Cougars pounded away with kills by Melina Staengle and errors by the Redhawks, creating Chicago’s biggest lead of the match at 18-11. The Redhawks staged a short-lived comeback, but Chicago State eventually took the second set 25-22.

After intermission, there was a reverse in play as Seattle U took the third, fourth and fifth set to win the match. In the third set, the Redhawks jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. A dump by setter Shae Harris with kills by Cecilia Wu and Samadan put the Redhawks ahead by eight points. Kerry Lane won a well contested joust to set the score to 19-12. Errors by Chicago State and a powerful double block by two Freshman, Maja Stojanovic and Wu gave the third set win to Seattle U.

Despite an early fourth set surge by the Cougars, Seattle U would answer and tie up the score at 12-12. The set went back and forth and became tied at 22-22. Mamic then put down a vital kill to gain a 23-22 lead. After a Seattle U time out, the Redhawks took advantage of Chicago State errors and ended victorious with an ace by Alyssa Deobler to win the match with a score of 29-27.

In the fifth and final set, Samadan brought the Redhawks to an early 3-1 lead with a kill and two blocks. Despite gains by the Cougars, two kills by Mila Duarte and Wu wrapped up the offensive action, as a Cougars error sealed the win for the Redhawks with a score of 15-8.

Redhawks win Annual Dig Pink Match

Martina Samadan gets ready to serve.

The second match of the week, designated as the Dig Pink match benefitting the fight against breast cancer, was a great conference win in WAC play. With key performances by big hitters Martina Samadan and Jelena Vujcin, the Redhawks won the match in four sets. Samadan led the team with 17 kills, four aces and six blocks while Jelena Vujcin finished with 15 kills.

The Redhawks got out to an early lead, but the University of Missouri- Kansas City slowly chipped away. After a Redhawk timeout, the Kangaroos nabbed a slight lead, causing yet another Seattle U timeout before SU surged back to tie the game with a slew of kills by Vujcin, Samadan and Duarte. A major double block by Samadan and Lane gave the Redhawks the advantage at 23-22. After an out of bounds hit by UMKC, Vujcin hammered down the final kill to take the first set 25-23.

In the second set, Seattle U took an early 5-1 lead, but the Kangaroos tied it up at 8-8 off of a kill by Skylar Muff. The score stayed incredibly even, with six total ties in the set. The Chicago State started to pull away off of a block and an ace.The Kangaroos momentum continued as they took advantage of Redhawk errors, winning the second set 25-18.

After intermission, it was the Samadan and Vujcin show as they tallied up kills to take the third and fourth sets. The Redhawks dominated the third set as they got out ahead and kept their lead. Two kills, one by Samadan and the other Vujcin, along with a monster double block by Samadan and Kerry Lane increased the lead to 22-16. Matea Mamic then hit down the final kill to take the set 25-19.

In the fourth and final set, the Kangaroos nabbed a 5-8 lead. The Redhawks continued their momentum with five consecutive kills by Vujcin, Ivanis, Duarte and Samadan to open a lead of 15-11. Despite kills by Muff and Madison Mosier of UMKC, Vujcin hammered down two final kills to win the fourth set 25-18.

After the game, head coach James Finley talked about the win.

“We started out making a lot of errors in the first two sets, which kept the match really close, but I think they recovered and got better at evaluating our opponent and the changes they were making—which helped us,” he said. “Plus, we made some adjustments on serve receive, which allowed us to run our offense. I was really happy with the adjustments that were made during the game.”

Next up for the Redhawks are two road games against conference rival Cal State Bakersfield and Grand Canyon University.

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