NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Embry-Riddle volleyball team kept its perfect record intact on Saturday with two victories at the Scott Jones Classic in Nashville, Tennessee. The Blue and Gold defeated the host Trevecca Nazarene 3-1 (25-21, 25-20, 23-25, 25-14) to open the day and followed that up with a 3-0 sweep (25-20, 25-10, 25-18) of Oakland City. With the wins, the Eagles record stands at 7-0, which they will bring into their first home match of the year on Friday, Sept. 18 against Florida Tech.
"We had a good day today," Head Coach
Joslynn Gallop said. "We did a better job connecting with the middles today, which helped our offensive rhythm. I'm also really happy with how Sumerr (Paxton) has adapted to the starting libero role; our defense has been solid and that starts with her. I like where we're at right now and I'm really looking forward to getting into the conference schedule on Friday."
ERAU 3, TNU 1 Playing its first true road match of the year, Embry-Riddle looked the better side for nearly the entirety of the match against the Trojans. The Eagles registered more kills than TNU in all four sets and didn't allow a service ace for the entire match while recording seven of their own.
Evelina Abdurakhmanova led all players with 20 kills while
Ella Duggan and
Ana Pajic each chipped in 10 kills. Duggan also tallied a match-high seven blocks (one solo) and Pajic had 10 digs for a double-double.
Sumerr Paxton collected 24 digs to lead all players while
Tamires Ferreira racked up 50 assists, 11 digs and four service aces.
The Eagles held a slim early lead in set one before the Trojans went on a 5-0 run to move ahead, 11-8. A block from Duggan and
Amanda Saunders got the lead back on ERAU's side (15-14), but it was short-lived as TNU scored the next two points. Abdurakhmanova put down three straight kills to regain the lead for the Blue and Gold (22-20) and this time the Eagles would not relinquish it, hanging on for a 25-21 win.
Embry-Riddle jumped out to an early 6-3 lead in set two and by the middle of the set the advantage had grown to 14-8. Trevecca Nazarene made a couple of runs to cut the deficit to three, but that was as close as the Trojans would get as ERAU took the set, 25-20, to go up 2-0 in the match.
In set three, ERAU led most of the way, pulling out to leads of 13-10 and 19-15. But TNU mounted a furious rally at the end of the frame, finishing the set on a 7-2 run to win it, 25-23, and force a fourth set.
After the Trojans got an early 2-1 lead in set four, Embry-Riddle took control, scoring nine of the next 10 points to take a commanding 10-3 lead. The margin grew to as many as eight on numerous occasions until the Blue and Gold finished the frame with four consecutive points to win it going away, 25-14.
ERAU 3, OCU 0 The Eagles closed out the tournament with a convincing 3-0 sweep of Oakland City, leading throughout all three sets. Abdurakhmanova led the way with 13 kills while Duggan and Saunders contributed eight kills apiece. Paxton picked up a match-high 17 digs while
Jordan Nakayama (20 assists) and
Tamires Ferreira (13 assists) shared the setting duties.
An 8-2 run early in the first set put the Eagles ahead, 10-5, and ERAU maintained control of the set the rest of the way. An Abdurakhmanova kill pushed the advantage to 18-11 and another kill from the senior outside hitter closed out the frame at 25-20.
Embry-Riddle held a slim 5-4 lead early in set two before rattling off a 13-2 spurt that all but put the set out of reach for Oakland City at 18-7. The Lady Oaks never challenged the rest of the way as the Eagles cruised to a 25-10 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Blue and Gold didn't let up in the third set, going on a 10-2 run to turn a 7-7 score into a 17-9 lead and sailing to a 25-18 win to complete the sweep.
The Eagles will open the home portion of the 2015 campaign on Friday, Sept. 18 against Florida Tech. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. at the ICI Center.
