ROCHESTER, Mich. - Nov. 13 - Southern Utah women's volleyball took the first set, but dropped the next two before coming back down the stretch to capture the fourth and fifth set to secure a 25-20, 19-25, 22-25, 25-22 and 15-8 victory at Oakland on Friday night. The win moves the Thunderbirds to 9-19 on the year and 7-10 in conference play, while the Golden Grizzlies drop to 17-9 overall and 10-7 in the Summit League.
Neither team built much of an advantage over the opening stretch of the first set as the teams were tied on six occasions, culminating in the final deadlock of 11-11. Analaine Pelaez broke the tie with one of her 13 kills during the night and the T-Birds maintained the lead throughout the rest of the stanza. SUU made the most of an Oakland hitting error at set point to take the first set 25-20.
Southern Utah trailed from start to finish in the second set, falling 25-19. The Thunderbirds fought off five set points in the third set, but were done in by a service error dropping that set 25-22.
Oakland looked to be carrying momentum from the back-to-back set victories as the Grizzlies built an early 3-0 lead in the fourth set. However, the Thunderbirds answered with a 5-0 counter run and caused the teams to trade the lead through an 8-8 tie. Southern Utah made the most of two quick points on another Pelaez kill coupled with a Jazmine Ma'afala kill following the tie to spark a momentum shift of its own. The T-Birds used the shift to push through to the end of the set with Pelaez and Cashaano Renfro wrapping up the 25-22 victory with kills to tie the match at 2-2.
Southern Utah jumped on the Grizzlies early in the fifth set, taking a 5-0 lead and never looked back ending the frame on a Ma'afala service ace, a Pelaez kill and a block off the hands of Brittney Clark and Renfro to take the 15-8 victory.
Peleaz and Tess Lawrence led the Thunderbirds with 13 kills, followed by Ma'afala with 12. Southern Utah's defense was especially sharp as five players logged double figures in digs led by Ma'afala with 16 and followed by Courtney Lelepali (14), Caitlin Jensen (12), Pelaez (11) and Clark with ten. Clark (44 assists, ten digs), Ma'afala (12 kills, 16 digs) and Pelaez (13 kills, 11 digs) each recorded double-doubles for their effort during the night.
Oakland was led on the attack by Brittany Holbrook with 14 kills, followed by Jenna Lange (13) and Meghan Bray and Allison Bell with ten.
Southern Utah will wrap up its regular season tomorrow night when the Thunderbirds face the Mastodons of IPFW in Fort Wayne, Ind. That game is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. (ET)
