Miami Shores, Fla. — The Saginaw Valley State Volleyball team continued on their victory train this weekend at Barry University, taking down Bridgeport, 3-1, and later, Texas A&M-Kingsville, 3-2.
The Cardinals head to a 6-0 start on the season, going 2-0 at the Barry Classic on Friday.
Game One: SVSU - 3, BU - 1
SVSU came out strong against Bridgeport, posting an eight point run to start the match. The Cardinals kept the Purple Knights down for the remainder of the match, concluding with a 25-15 victory.
In set two, Saginaw Valley went on an offensive hitting streak, posting 20 kills and only six errors, hitting a .318. SVSU took the 2-0 lead in sets with a 25-16 win over Bridgeport.
Bridgeport started to pull ahead early on in set three, posting 14 kills with only two errors. The six errors in this set by the Cardinals ended up causing their first loss of the day to the Purple Knights, 25-21.
Luckily, Saginaw Valley hit the switch with the help of outside Sarah Tabit, grabbing a 25-21 win. The Cardinals won their fifth straight contest in a row, going 3-1 with Bridgeport in the first contest of the Barry University Classic.
From head coach Will Stanton:
"We did a very good job of controlling the tempo and keeping Bridgeport out of their offense early in the match. Our serve was solid and effective, and that allowed our offense to get rolling as well. BU really stepped up their serving and offense in set 3 and 4 and we did not respond to it as quickly as we needed to. So it became a fight to get our momentum back."
Game Two: SVSU - 3, Texas A&M - Kingsville 2
Game two of the first day of competition at the Barry Classic was a hard fought battle for the Cardinals, as the Kingsville Javelinas notched the first two sets, 25-23 and 25-19.
Saginaw Valley was not ready to give up their perfect record just yet, as the Cardinals battled back to find a 25-17 win in the third set, giving Kingsville their lowest attacking percentage of the night, -.027.
Even with SVSU attacking a .283 and posting 18 kills in the fourth set, Javelinas fought hard to take the win in four - Although, with the last minute efforts by the Cardinals, Saginaw Valley was able to hold onto the 29-27 victory to fight for the fifth set victory.
The Cardinals stepped up huge in the final match and posted nine kills with only one error, while the Javelinas could not mark a single kill.
SVSU took the victory, 3-2, over Kingsville, holding onto their perfect season record.
Up Next...
The Cardinals will finish off their pre-conference trips tomorrow, taking on Barry University at 1 p.m. and Southern Conn. St. at 5 p.m.
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