Grace Volleyball Stuns St. Francis With Sweep
October 20, 2022 at 10:42 p.m.
Grace Volleyball Stuns St. Francis With Sweep
By Josh Neuhart-
The Lady Lancers downed the Cougars, who are receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches’ Poll.
Grace used a balanced offense to dispatch of the Cougars; the Lady Lancers had five players register at least four kills and had just 12 attack errors as a team. The Cougars, on the other hand, had 24 attack errors.
In the opening set, Grace used a 10-2 run early in the set to take command. Katie Swanson had a pair of kills during Grace’s run, and Sahara Bee collected three straight kills to push Grace ahead 16-8.
The Cougars did their best to rally, pulling within three in the final stages. But Grace Erwin served an ace on the final rally, giving Grace a 25-20 victory.
Jadyn Block had four kills in the opening set, and the Lady Lancers tallied 14 kills on two attack errors.
The Lady Lancers won four of the first five points to begin the second set. A pair of kills by Cassadi Colbert increased Grace’s lead to 11-6.
Grace cruised to another 25-20 win in the second set to seize momentum in the match. Bee had three more kills in the second set. The Cougars were muted to 11 kills and nine errors on offense (.059 hitting percentage).
St. Francis seemed determined to extend the match with a late lead in the third set. Grace jumped out to a 4-1 lead again thanks to two aces from Emma Blackford.
But USF countered with an 8-1 run to propel into the lead. The Cougars led by as many as six with the score 19-13.
The Lady Lancers had another charge, however. Colbert, Block and Livia Tate had kills to quickly pull the Lady Lancers within four. A trio of Cougar errors then chopped USF’s lead down to one at 22-21.
A USF timeout did little to slow Grace’s momentum in front of the home crowd. Grace went on to win the final five points, including an ace by Erwin and a block point on the finale from Tate and Bee.
Overall, Grace ended the match on a 9-1 run to secure the sweep.
For the match, Colbert paced Grace with nine kills, including four in the last set. Block also notched eight kills.
Bee finished with seven kills and two block assists, and Tate had 4 kills, 1 solo block and 3 block assists.
Swanson had five kills with two block assists, and Liz Schmidt had a match-high 20 digs.
Grace handled the serve well; the Lady Lancers successfully serve-received at a .949 percentage.
Erwin was also honored before Wednesday’s match for eclipsing 1,000 career digs.
The Lady Lancers have two more matches this week, playing on the road Friday at No. 15 Marian and home on Saturday against Spring Arbor at 3 p.m.
The Lady Lancers downed the Cougars, who are receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25 Coaches’ Poll.
Grace used a balanced offense to dispatch of the Cougars; the Lady Lancers had five players register at least four kills and had just 12 attack errors as a team. The Cougars, on the other hand, had 24 attack errors.
In the opening set, Grace used a 10-2 run early in the set to take command. Katie Swanson had a pair of kills during Grace’s run, and Sahara Bee collected three straight kills to push Grace ahead 16-8.
The Cougars did their best to rally, pulling within three in the final stages. But Grace Erwin served an ace on the final rally, giving Grace a 25-20 victory.
Jadyn Block had four kills in the opening set, and the Lady Lancers tallied 14 kills on two attack errors.
The Lady Lancers won four of the first five points to begin the second set. A pair of kills by Cassadi Colbert increased Grace’s lead to 11-6.
Grace cruised to another 25-20 win in the second set to seize momentum in the match. Bee had three more kills in the second set. The Cougars were muted to 11 kills and nine errors on offense (.059 hitting percentage).
St. Francis seemed determined to extend the match with a late lead in the third set. Grace jumped out to a 4-1 lead again thanks to two aces from Emma Blackford.
But USF countered with an 8-1 run to propel into the lead. The Cougars led by as many as six with the score 19-13.
The Lady Lancers had another charge, however. Colbert, Block and Livia Tate had kills to quickly pull the Lady Lancers within four. A trio of Cougar errors then chopped USF’s lead down to one at 22-21.
A USF timeout did little to slow Grace’s momentum in front of the home crowd. Grace went on to win the final five points, including an ace by Erwin and a block point on the finale from Tate and Bee.
Overall, Grace ended the match on a 9-1 run to secure the sweep.
For the match, Colbert paced Grace with nine kills, including four in the last set. Block also notched eight kills.
Bee finished with seven kills and two block assists, and Tate had 4 kills, 1 solo block and 3 block assists.
Swanson had five kills with two block assists, and Liz Schmidt had a match-high 20 digs.
Grace handled the serve well; the Lady Lancers successfully serve-received at a .949 percentage.
Erwin was also honored before Wednesday’s match for eclipsing 1,000 career digs.
The Lady Lancers have two more matches this week, playing on the road Friday at No. 15 Marian and home on Saturday against Spring Arbor at 3 p.m.
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