HONOLULU – Simon Fraser University swept a pair of games against Humboldt State and Hawaii Pacific for its first two wins of the season, leaving the Hawaii Invitational with a 2-2 overall record.
Simon Fraser received a match high16 kills from sophomore
Christine Howlett to propel the Clan to a 3-1 (27-25, 25-15, 25-27, 26-24) win over Hawaii Pacific in the final game of the Hawaii Invitational at St. Andrew's Priory's James C. Castle Gym on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, Simon Fraser went five sets with Humboldt State before winning 25-20, 25-23, 14-25, 24-26, 15-12.
"After Thursday's disappointing losses we did a great job of fighting in the close sets today and finding ways to win," said Clan head coach
Gina Schmidt.
The Clan opened the Hawaii Invitational with tough five set losses to Chaminade University and BYU-Hawaii on Thursday.
"We tweaked our lineup a bit and that seemed to open up our hitters more," she added.
Hawaii Pacific Against HPU, the Clan also netted 11 kills from freshman
Tessa May (.450 hitting) and nine from
Madison Power. With the score tied 25-25 in the first set, Power smashed home a kill to give the Clan a one point advantage that turned into a win after an attack error by HPU's Kasey Thompson.
The Clan easily took the second set and was leading 24-21 in the third before the Sharks rolled off four straight points to take the lead, ultimately claiming the third set, 27-25.
The teams were tied 24-24 in the final set before kills by Howlett and senior
Jessica Young put the match away, 26-24. Young finished with 5 kills, 4 blocks and 9 digs while senior setter
Danielle Curtis also turned in a solid effort with 23 assists and 4 digs.
SFU and HPU will meet again on Wednesday, Sept. 10 for a rematch as part of the PacWest/GNAC Crossover tournament.
Humboldt State Simon Fraser jumped out to a 2-0 lead in its match with Humboldt State before the Jacks fought back to win the next two sets. The fifth set was tied four times, but not after 6-6. Simon Fraser maintained the lead, and ultimately claimed the match, winning 15-12.
Junior
Devon May had the final two kills in the tiebreaker to ice the match for the Clan.
Howlett led the Clan with 15 kills (.297 hitting) while freshman
Tessa May, Devon's younger sister, added 10 (.292 hitting) and a match high 8 blocks.
Trailing 2-0 in the match, the Jacks went up 6-1 in the third set and ended on a 9-1 run, for a 25-14 win.
A much closer fourth set went Humboldt's way as well, with the Jacks needing an extra point to win it 26-24 to force the decisive fifth set.
Red Night The Clan is on the road for four more games in three days from Sept. 10-12 at the 2015 PacWest/GNAC Crossover tournament.
The home opener for the Clan and the start to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference season is Sept. 17 when SFU will face rival Seattle Pacific at the West Gym. The game is being billed as Red Night and all fans are encouraged to wear red to show support for the Clan.
