ERAU and STU to face off in Sun Conference Championship
No. 1 St. Thomas 3, No. 5 Webber International 0
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – St. Thomas (23-7, 13-1) won its seventh consecutive match with a straight set win (25-14, 25-21, 25-15) over Webber International (16-16, 7-7) in the semifinals of The Sun Conference Championship tournament on Friday night at the Fernandez Center. With the win, top seeded St. Thomas earned a spot in the conference championship match vs. no. 2 seed Embry-Riddle 2 p.m. Saturday at the Fernandez Family Center.
The win was the fifth consecutive straight-set victory for the Bobcats and extending their consecutive set winning streak to 16 sets.
Marisa Markus and Carly Durr led the Bobcats offensively with 10 kills a piece with Dana Nowaczyk setting up the attack with 29 assists. Defensively, Sydney Maynard recorded a match-high 21 digs, while Whitney Battoe registered five blocks.
Anitaka Knight led the Warriors with nine kills, while Michelle Calderon recorded 18 digs.
St. Thomas and Embry-Riddle will meet for the third time this season in tomorrow’s championship game. The two teams split their previous two meetings with each match going five sets.
The championship match will have live video coverage at
http://new.livestream.com/stusports and live stats will be available at
http://www.sidearmstats.com/stu/wvball/
Embry-Riddle 3, Warner 0
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Second seeded Embry-Riddle (20-9, 13-1) defeated third seeded Warner (10-14, 8-6) in straight sets (25-22, 27-25, 25-15) in Friday afternoon’s Sun Conference semifinal match. The Eagles were led by Cheye-Anne Savage (13 kills, four digs) and Evalina Abdurakhmanova (11 kills, seven digs).
Setting up the ERAU attack was Tamires Ferreira (seven kills, 40 assists, 18 digs), whose assists constantly put the Eagle attackers in perfect position to score. Hannah Gray was stout on the defensive end notching 43 digs.
The first set was a tight contest with Warner controlling the action early on. Led by the combination of Marisa Moralobo and Adrienne Czaplewski, the Royal attack outpaced the Eagles. However, down 19-16, Embry-Riddle scored the next three points, knotting the game at 19 all. The two teams continued to trade scores until Embry’s Cheye-Anne Savage scored consecutive points to put the Eagles up by two. Ana Pajic put down the final kill to secure the first set 25-22 in Embry Riddle’s favor.
The two teams continued to battle in the second set, with ERAU appearing poised to run away down the stretch. Down 23-20, Ivelisse Saint-Clair led the charge as Warner scored four consecutive points to take the lead. Not to be outdone, Evalina Abdurakhmanova quickly got the Eagles back into the match with a critical kill, tying the match at 24. After trading scores, Embry-Riddle set their selves up for set point when Tamires Ferreira landed a huge service ace. Ana Pajic once again put down the final score, allowing Embry-Riddle to take the second set 27-25.
Sensing victory, Embry-Riddle took control of the third set early on, and never looked back. They closed out the match winning the third set 25-15.
With the victory, Embry-Riddle advances to the Sun Conference Championship match on Saturday at the Fernandez Family Center.
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