By: Lauren Mason
On Tuesday night, the SFU volleyball team hosted their annual Red Night against the Western Washington University Vikings. With home fans in the stands, and the team coming off of a big win over St. Martin’s University, the Clan was ready for action.
SFU’s No. 7 Angelica Kilberg drew first blood, putting the Clan on the board within the first minute of the first set. After many long rallies, and quite a few impressive kills, the Clan unfortunately fell to a 9–25 loss.
In the second set, SFU came back much stronger, once again scoring the first point and swinging the momentum in their favour. With many points rallying back and forth, and tying it up at 18 all, the Vikings pulled ahead eventually, winning with a much closer second set with 19–25.
As the third set went underway, the Clan trailed 3–7. Things soon began to look up, with SFU capitalizing on the mistakes made by the Vikings. Still trailing, the Clan scored many consecutive points, bringing them closer to the Vikings. However, Western Washington combated that with seven unanswered points against the Clan, making the deficit 9–21.
After a mistake by Western, the Clan began a series of great plays, and things were looking as if SFU were set to make a massive comeback. In the end, however, the Vikings ended up with a win of 16–25 in that set, snagging the win over the entire match. The score not directly reflecting the competitiveness of the overall game, with many drawn-out rallies, and impressive plays from both sides of the court.
Though all of the girls performed well, some standout players include junior Tessa May, sophomore Betsie de Beer, and senior Christine Howlett, all with a substantial number of kills on the game. The team, with 58 digs in total, played an impressive game, but just could not keep up with the Vikings that night. Each girl added to the moral of the team, and creating a sense of togetherness that could be felt even in the stands.
After the game, coach Gina Schmidt expanded on her thoughts on the game, and its outcome. With the knowledge that Western Washington University was a strong defensive and serving team, the Clan would need to take care of their side of the court. As a response to the first game, coach Schmidt stated that she thought that the team did a better job of finding ways to outperform and score on the Vikings in the second set, and that they were able to keep up with the Vikings’ pace in a very competitive match. Though the Clan did a good job at extending rallies, the Vikings did a better job of executing.
Catch the Clan as they take on Montana State Billings on Friday in Montana at 6 p.m.
