NAMPA, Idaho —Simon Fraser University shook off some early season rust to defeat Sonoma State University in straight sets and then pulled off an epic five set victory over Hawaii Pacific on Day 2 of the 2017 Division II West Region Showcase, hosted by Northwest Nazarene University at the Johnson Sports Center on the NNU campus.
After opening the season 1-4, Simon Fraser has now won back-to-back games to improve to 3-4 on the season. SFU took down Sonoma State 25-23, 25-23, 25-18 in the morning contest and beat HPU 18-25, 25-11, 28-30, 25-23 and 15-12 in the night game.
Simon Fraser, which has experimented with its lineup early this season, appears to have rounded into form.
"We have a lot of new people on the court this season and we knew it would take a bit of time for us to find our rhythm," said Clan head coach
Gina Schmidt. "We're starting to get that chemistry on the court and it showed in our results today. We had contributions from everyone, both old and new, throughout the two matches and it was great to see different players step up when we needed them."
SFU beat the Sonoma State Seawolves in a tight contest. SFU had an edge in hitting percentage, hitting at .250 percent while holding Sonoma State to a .179 clip. In the third set SFU hit at .324 percent while holding Sonoma State to .111.
Sonoma State had a 43-41 advantage in kills and a 5-4 edge in blocks, while SFU had a 5-3 advantage in service aces.
Simon Fraser's
Kirsten Pinkney led the Clan with 13 kills while
Tessa May had a .364 hitting percent with four kills and
Nicole Chevrier hit at a .333 clip with six kills.
The first set was tied nine times and deadlocked 15-15 when SFU went on an 8-2 run to take command, 23-18, and then close out the Seawolves. The second set was more of the same with the game tied 15 times. Tied 22-22, two straight attack errors by the Seawolves and a game-winning kill by
Kirsten Pinkney delivered the win. The third set was tied 16-16 before SFU ended the game with a 9-2 run.
Jayme Bratsberg led the Clan with 22 digs, and
Tamara Clarke dished out 13 assists and
Julia Tays had 18 for Simon Fraser.
The evening match was close all the way with both teams nearly deadlocked in kills, digs and assists, but SFU had a .245 to .156 edge in hitting percent. Hawaii Pacific had 31 errors, including six in the decisive fifth set compared to 17 and 2, respectively, for the Clan.
Outside hitter
Christine Howlett had a monster match hitting .425 and putting away 19 kills out of 40 attempts to lead all players. Betsie deBeer also had double figure kills with 14.
Julia Tays (31) and
Tamara Clarke (21) combined for 52 assists.
The final game was tied 7-7, and again 12-12, but kills by Howlett, and two by de Beers, put the game away.
SFU opens Conference play on Mon., Sept. 11, at Northwest Nazarene in a rematch of last year's NCAA West Regional quarterfinals match. Simon Fraser will play two more conference games on the road before returning home to host the Montana State Billings Yellowjackets in the West Gym on September 23 at 5pm.
A season ticket to Clan Volleyball is $90 for 10 home games and available by emailing tickets@sfu.ca.
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--@SFUClan--
