SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The Saginaw Valley State University volleyball team opened its 2014 season with a sweep of its opponents on the opening day of the Seaside Invitational, hosted by Point Loma University in San Diego. The Cardinals began the day with a 3-0 victory over Cal State Dominguez Hills earlier before defeating Fresno Pacific by a score of 3-1 in a match that finished at around 12:30 am EST.
Match #1 - Cal State Dominguez Hills
The Cardinals opened the match by posting a 26-24 victory in the first set despite hitting just .031 in the frame. The team would hit better in the next two sets, however, posting a .250 percentage in the second and a .348 mark in the third to close-out for the sweep with scores of 25-16 and 25-14, respectively.
Senior outside hitter Kelsey Ferla earned Chili's "Player of the Match" honors while leading the offensive charge for SV. Ferla notched 14 kills while hitting at a .229 clip, adding six digs, three blocks and a service ace.
Sophomore Kelly Vellucci had a match-high 25 assists and added nine digs to help the effort.
SVSU held its opponents to a -0.010 hitting percentage for the match.
"The team came out pretty solid and served well, and that put us in some good positions defensively" said Head Coach Will Stanton. "Our offense didn't connect as well as I think we can, so we hope to see some improvement there as we go through the weekend."
Match #2 - Fresno Pacific
The Cardinals carried their momentum right into their second match of the day, as the squad claimed 25-21 and 27-25 victories in sets one and two, respectively, against Fresno Pacific. SV would drop the third frame by a 25-16 count but responded nicely with a 25-16 advantage of its own to close-out the match, 3-1.
Vellucci was named the Chili's "Player of the Match" in the nightcap, setting up her teammates nicely with a match-high 35 assists and a team-high 15 digs. The 35 assists is just one shy of her career-high of 36, which was last year in a win over Tiffin.
Senior middle hitter Makenzie Frodle had nine kills while hitting .500 and adding a match-high four blocks.
Senior Kate Czopek and junior Brooke Tiller each added 11 digs defensively for the Cards while senior Ashley Driscoll added seven kills and three blocks to the attack.
"Fresno Pacific played very strong defense, so our offense had to step-up and dig a little deeper for the kills," said Stanton. "We got some great contributions from several hitters and Kelly Vellucci did a very nice job distributing the ball and helping us fond our kills."
SVSU continues play on Saturday with a noon match against Azusa Pacific before closing-out with the tournament hosts, Point Loma, at 4:15 pm. Both matches are eastern standard time.