The Southern Utah University volleyball team hosted the Lumberjacks of Stephen F. Austin State University on Oct. 21 for a Western Athletic Conference matchup. The conference-leading Lumberjacks earned a 3-1 victory to take home to Texas.
SFA is now 21-3 on the season and remains undefeated in conference play with a 10-0 record. At the bottom of the WAC standings, SUU is now 5-15 overall and 1-9 in the conference.
For Lumberjacks fans, the first set was short and sweet. SUU kept it relatively close until SFA went on a 7-1 run to set the pace for the rest of the set. An aggressive offense carried the Lumberjacks to a 25-15 set win. Sixteen of the Lumberjack’s points came off kills, with five different players getting in on the action.
Southern Utah had just enough energy to earn a set win of their own. They pulled ahead 17-10 before SFA picked up their play. Soon, it was 24-23 for the Thunderbirds with the set on the line. A kill from Hana Makonova tied the match at one set apiece. This was easily the Lumberjacks’ sloppiest set, as they committed 10 errors, more than double for any other set in the match.
Sets three and four erased any Thunderbird hopes of an upset. Stephen F. Austin showed no mercy and took the final sets 25-12 and 25-16, respectively. The Lumberjacks forced SUU into 11 errors in the third set while only committing one of their own. In fact, SFA only made four total errors in the last two sets combined to secure the 3-1 win.
Notable stats
— SFA’s Kyanna Creecy had seven kills while maintaining a .700 attack percentage, both single-game career highs for her.
— SUU’s Andrea Spasojevic led all players in digs with 17.
— The match’s highest scorer was SFA’s Ielan Bradley with 17.5 points, 15 of them coming from kills.
— SFA committed just 12 total errors as compared to SUU’s 29.
Next up
The Thunderbirds will now hit the road, this time heading to the Golden State to take on California Baptist University. The game will be on Thursday, Oct. 26, at 8 p.m. MDT and can be streamed on ESPN+.
Author: Anden Garfield
Photographer: Anden Garfield
sports@suunews.net
