By: Gabrielle McLaren
On Saturday night, SFU beat the St. Martin’s Saints in three straight sets, 26–24, 25–19, 25–20. The Clan has now won five of its last seven games.
St. Martin’s started the game strong, pulling ahead early with a 3–0 lead. The Clan caught up, and both teams were neck and neck throughout. When the teams were tied 24–24, Jayme Bratsberg finished the set for SFU with a service ace. Head coach Gina Schmidt commented that though she was happy with the team’s effort throughout the game, she was especially proud of the team’s first set. “It was a slow start, but they stayed composed. That was a pivotal point.”
After a close end to the first set, the Clan dominated in the second set and pulled ahead with an early lead. The team’s strong offence led in kills 16–5. Towards the end, St. Martin’s pushed through and a series of attack errors on SFU’s behalf leveled out the Clan’s lead from 24–14 to 24–19. Despite St. Martin’s comeback, the set came to a dramatic finish in SFU’s favour after a long exchange and an awesome kill by Nicole Chevrier.
Following intermission, the Clan clung to its lead and continued to play well in the third set. As the set was coming to an end in SFU’s favour, the Saints caught up and got within five points of SFU. A kill by Christine Howlett put the game away for the Clan. Tessa May performed especially well, leading the match with 14 kills, followed by Christine Howlett and Lauren Fridman (tied with nine) and Betsie de Beer (eight kills).
The Clan led SMU 49–30 in kills, 61.0 to 40.0 in points, 8–3 in aces, and 49–29 in assists. However, they did have more errors than St. Martin’s (22–14). SFU is tied for fifth place with Seattle Pacific in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference with five wins and five losses.
The team will play their next game at home on Tuesday, October 17 at 7:00 p.m. in the West Gym. The team will be facing Western Washington University, the second highest-ranked team in the conference. They have only lost one game this season. Fans are encouraged to wear red, and those in attendance over the age of 19 are invited to the Red Zone craft beer tasting area.
