DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle volleyball team opened up the 2017 season on Friday night with a 3-1 loss (25-23, 25-21, 24-26, 25-21) to Oklahoma Baptist (2-0) as part of the Bahama House Classic. The Blue and Gold got career-best efforts from a number of players, including
Theresa Jordan (10 kills, 10 digs),
Alyssa Rudd (44 assists), and
Olivia Roa (5 service aces).
Roa also had a match-high 29 digs while
Paola Virella chipped in with nine kills and seven digs and
Ella Duggan,
McKenna James and
Melanie Canfield each had seven kills.
Oklahoma Baptist used a 5-1 run in the first set to pull ahead, 12-11. After the Eagles retook the lead at 17-16, OBU scored seven of the next nine points to push its advantage to 23-19. Duggan and Jordan scored a block that sparked a quick 4-0 rally for ERAU, keyed by a pair of aces from
Erika Barbour, to tie the set at 23-23. The Bison were able to stop the bleeding with a Mikayla Watson kill on the next point and Kelsi Chavez clinched the set with a well-placed bump attack from the back row to end the set at 25-23.
Set two followed a similar pattern to set one, with OBU going on an 8-3 run to take the lead, 12-9, only to see the Eagles fight back to even things at 15-15. This time the Bison never surrendered the lead and eventually pulled away for a 25-21 win to go up 2-0 in the match.
In the third frame, the Eagles turned the tide on Oklahoma Baptist, going on a 7-2 run in the middle stages of the set to take a 19-15 lead. OBU rallied back to tie it at 21 and briefly regained the lead at 23-22, but Duggan and Canfield came up with a big block and Roa followed that with an ace to give ERAU its first set point of the night at 24-23. An attack error kept OBU in the set but Canfield and James scored back-to-back kills to finish off the set and keep the match going with ERAU trailing 2-1.
The Eagles couldn't ride the wave of momentum that they had developed towards the end of set three into set four, as Oklahoma Baptist quickly ran out to a 12-5 lead. The Eagles showed their resiliency, clawing back to within two points on three occasions, but the Bison never let them get any closer than that for the rest of the set, taking the frame, 25-21, to win the match, 3-1.
The Blue and Gold are back in action tomorrow in day two of the Bahama House Classic at the ICI Center. ERAU takes on Barton at 2 p.m. and closes out the tournament against Missouri S&T at 7 p.m.
