"We didn't let the 2-0 deficit get us down," said Causevic. "We came back positive and ready to start strong from the beginning. Serving and blocking really helped us to put pressure on them and slow the ball down. Also our passing got better and allowed our setter to distribute the ball perfectly around the court."
The opening set saw separation when the Warriors used a 5-0 run to get ahead 7-14, but that gap was
promptly closed by five unanswered points by Academy of Art. Keeping the pressure on, Stanislaus State soon forced set point at 24-16, but ART U resiliently fought off four set points with a pair of kills by senior outside hitter Kabrina Speakman. In the end, however, a 25-20 set victory for the Warriors was the result.
A 6-0 burst midway through the second set put Stanislaus State ahead 13-6, but back-to-back service aces from junior middle blocker Margaret Winkler and multiple kills by freshman middle blocker Jennifer Argelander helped the Knights push back. A 9-2 response had the teams tied 15-15 and they would persevere through multiple ties until 20-20 where the Warriors scored five of the final six points for a 25-21 win.
A total of 13 ties reflected the back-and-forth nature of the third set. Boosting from 21-21, ART U had Argelander and junior outside hitter Bailey Soolsma team up for an emphatic block to force set point and Causevic provided the final exclamation mark with a kill to start the comeback with a 25-22 victory.
That momentum carried into the fourth frame where a 10-2 Academy of Art run started things off. Speakman and redshirt sophomore middle blocker Safua Elisaia combined for blocks and each delivered kills during that surge as the Knights would not allow their opponents any closer than four points the rest of the set. Much like the third, Causevic continued her career night with the kill to cap the set 25-18.
Challenged to complete the comeback in the fifth set, ART U found itself in an 11-11 tie before Causevic slammed down her career-high 16th kill and Argelander combined with Teu to block the Warriors' top hitter that night. The Knights never trailed from that point forward, getting another kill from Speakman before earning the set 15-13 and the match 3-2.
"In those last three sets, we started to settle down a little bit and got into a really good rhythm, especially with our serving and blocking," said head coach Ray Batalon. "I thought early in the match, we didn't quite time our block well. Late in the third set, we put together a run and then finished the set by siding out well. In the fourth set, our serve picked up even more and we were able to build a good lead. Finally in the fifth set, it was very similar to the third set. We were neck and neck until late then our offense put it away."
Now 2-8 on the year, ART U was led by Causevic's first collegiate double-double which came in the form of 16 kills and 23 digs.
"I am honored to have played in place of our captain; that meant a lot for me, but of course I couldn't have done it without my teammates," Causevic said. "We helped each other when we were in trouble and all together we fought for the victory."
Speakman added 13 kills and 19 digs while Soolsma's 10 kills rounded out the Knights' trio of hitters in the double-digits. Freshman setter Lilika Teu set a new career-high with 40 assists while redshirt sophomore libero Lyndsay Mlynar amassed 22 digs. Argelander finished with career-highs of six kills and six block assists.
"Ema's contribution was big for us tonight," said Batalon. "Not only did she lead us in kills, but she added to her point total with some tough serving. It was great to see her have that kind of night. The other big performances came from Safua, Jen, and Bailey. They did a great job controlling the frontline of our block. Overall, all the credit goes to the team for their fighting spirit. It was a awesome to see the entire team come together and pull this one out."
Stanislaus falls below .500 as the loss puts them at 5-6 overall despite a match-high 20 kills from Blair Erlich.
Academy of Art now looks ahead to its first homestand of the season beginning with Azusa Pacific this Friday at 1:30 p.m. inside Kezar Pavilion. Concordia (Sept. 24), BYU-Hawaii (Sept. 28), and Dominican (Oct. 3) will descend upon San Francisco over the next two weeks.
"Heading into this weekend, we hope to continue the same mentality that we had from this match," said Batalon. "We want to continue to play within ourselves and continue to fight hard for every point."
No comments:
Post a Comment