MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Led by 18 kills from Jennifer Beatty, the 15th-ranked Embry-Riddle volleyball team bounced back from a rough first set to defeat St. Thomas 3-1 (14-25, 27-25, 25-23, 25-16) on Friday night. The win improved ERAU to 7-5, 2-0 in conference play, while the Bobcats fell to 7-10 overall and 2-1 in league matches. The Blue and Gold are now one of only two remaining undefeated teams in The Sun Conference along with Ave Maria, who is 3-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play.
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Embry-Riddle got off to a rocky start in the first set, falling behind 7-3 and trailing for the rest of the frame. A block from Morgan Shattuck and Taylor Ruiz pulled the Eagles to within a point at 8-7, but the Bobcats pulled away from that point, eventually winning the set, 25-14.
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In set two, ERAU again fell behind early, trailing 7-5 in the beginning stages. An attack error by Nicole McInnis began a 4-0 run for the Eagles, but it wasn't too long before the Bobcats were back in the lead, 16-14. Emily Jacobson put down a kill to spark a 3-0 run that pushed ERAU in front by a point (17-16), but once again STU rallied to regain the lead, 21-18. McInnis terminated a point to make it 24-22, giving St. Thomas two set points. After Shattuck scored a kill when McInnis was called for a blocking error, Ruiz and Jacobson blocked McInnis to tie the set at 24-24. Jacobson and Cailey Washington combined to block McInnis again on the next point, making it 25-24 ERAU. Mary Bowers extended the set with a kill to tie things at 25-all, but Ruiz came up big for the Eagles, pounding out back-to-back kills to end the frame, 27-25 for the Blue and Gold, knotting the match at one set apiece.
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The Eagles played some of their best volleyball coming out of the 10-minute intermission between the second and third sets, running out to a 12-5 lead in the third frame. The Bobcats rallied late to make it interesting, but Shattuck registered the set-ending kill to give Embry-Riddle a 25-23 win and a 2-1 lead in the contest.
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A 5-1 run in the fourth set helped the Eagles to take a 9-8 lead and the Blue and Gold closed out the match on a 15-5 run that included the final five points to clinch the set, 25-16, and the match, 3-1.
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Beatty led all players with 18 kills to go along with nine digs and two blocks (one solo). Ruiz added 13 kills and three blocks while Shattuck had six kills and a match- and season-high seven blocks. Hannah Gray picked up a match-leading 16 digs and Tamires Ferreira tallied seven digs and four blocks in addition to match highs in assists (40) and service aces (3).
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McInnis led the Bobcats with 15 kills and added nine digs while Bowers chipped in 13 kills and Marisa Markus added 11. Dana Nowaczyk narrowly missed a triple-double by just a couple of digs; she ended up with 11 assists, 10 kills and eight digs. Gaby Huaroto-Lugue tallied a team-high 14 digs while Sydney Maynard led the team with 34 assists to go along with 13 digs.
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The Eagles are right back at it tomorrow afternoon with a 2 p.m. match at Sun Conference foe Florida Memorial. Live stats will be available at ERAUAthletics.com. |
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Stats Comparison |
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Kills |
50 |
49 |
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Errors |
30 |
19 |
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Total Attacks |
134 |
136 |
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Attack Pct. |
.149 |
.221 |
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Assists |
48 |
44 |
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Digs |
61 |
48 |
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Blocks |
4 |
12 |
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Service Aces |
9 |
3 |
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Stat Leaders |
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McInnis |
15 |
Kills |
18 |
Beatty |
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Maynard |
34 |
Assists |
40 |
Ferreira |
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Huaroto-Lugue |
14 |
Digs |
16 |
Gray |
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Three players |
2 |
Blocks |
7 |
Shattuck |
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Maynard |
3 |
Aces |
3 |
Ferreira |
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