Irvine, CA - The SFU Clan women's volleyball team were a perfect 2-0 on Friday, as they opened both the Concordia University Labour Day Tournament and their NCAA season by beating both the University of California San Diego Tritons and the Colorado Christian University Cougars.
"It's always nice to start the season off on a winning note, especially against a quality opponent," said head coach
Gina Schmidt. "Coming into the weekend, we didn't know a lot about the other teams in the tournament, so we wanted to focus on executing, both offensively and defensively, on our side of the net."
The score line against San Diego read 26-24, 11-25, 25-17, 19-25, 10-15.
Against the Tritons, SFU were pushed to the limit, and actually finding themselves down 2-1 after three sets. Still, the veteran Clan rallied and roared back, taking the final two frames handedly.
Senior
Devon May had a monstrous first match, as the senior outside hitter brought down 25 kills, swinging a remarkable 70 times.
Emma Jennings made her presence felt in the first contest, with 20 kills of her own.
Schmidt credits the resilience displayed by her squad in their first match to their experience, both from past seasons, and as teammates.
"We played a few epic five-set matches during last year's preseason, so, I think this team's collective experience helped us stay calm and focused in today's game. We returned several core players from last year's team and I think that familiarity and chemistry on the court really helped today."
The second matchup of the day wasn't nearly as close, with the Clan sweeping Colorado Christian with set scores of 25-13, 25-11, 25-21.
Jennings continued her impressive showing in the second contest, leading the team with 14 kills and adding 10 digs, a block, and an ace for good measure. Simon Fraser also had an excellent day at the service line, as
Tamara Nipp paced the team with four aces, while the roster finished with a total of nine.
Despite a long morning session, the Clan did well to hold up under considerable fatigue, something Schmidt made note of in her analysis.
"The team did a great job of carrying the momentum from this morning into our afternoon match," said the SFU head coach. "CCU also played a five-set game this morning, so both teams were dealing with fatigue, but our girls did a good job of taking care of all the little things."
The Clan will wrap up the Labour Day Tournament tomorrow, as they will take on the host Concordia University Irvine Eagles at 1:15 pm before ending the day against the Azusa Pacific Cougars at 5:45 pm.
