The seasons are changing, autumn is upon us and nobody knows that better than Saint Xavier University’s women’s volleyball team.
Last time they played a match, it was still warm and sunny outside instead of being chilly and windy like it was on Friday night for their first true home game of the young season.
The Cougars battled it out against Saint Ambrose University in front of a crowd pumped up and ready to see the Cougars attain an early victory. Even school President Christine Wiseman and new Provost Dr. Paul L. DeVito were on hand to cheer on the Cougars in their home opener.
The team played very hard, but the Queen Bees proved to be the better squad on this night, defeating the Cougars in four sets: 19-25, 18-25, 25-22 and 14-25. The team kept the match close but Saint Ambrose was able to pull away in the fourth game to close out the Cougars of Chicago.
The team was led by co-captains Kelli Shaffer and Marie Hackert, who gave a stellar effort in defeat. Shaffer posted another nice all round game, leading the team with 32 assists to go along with five kills and 13 digs. Hackert was the other offensive leader for the Cougars, finishing the match with a team-best 12 kills.
Defensively, the team was led by junior libero Dominique Aramburu, who had a team-high 18 digs, and freshman Erica Harris had an impressive 17 digs for the team.
After the Queen Bees won the first game by six, the Cougars came out strong in the second game, jumping out to a 3-0 lead.
But Saint Ambrose would come back to take the game by seven. The Cougars were then faced with the possibility of being swept away in three games by the visitors from Iowa, but they weren’t ready to bow out quite yet.
The third game of the match was tied at eleven after the Cougars came back from a four point deficit.
The two teams went back and forth, trading points until the Cougars were able to pull away and win the game by four for their first victory of the match.
In the last game, the Queen Bees took a commanding 10-2 lead at the start, leading to a quick timeout being called by Coach Bob Heersema. But that still did not stop the Queen Bees’ momentum, as they ended up winning the game by eleven.
Saint Ambrose was led by junior outside hitter Hannah Turner, who finished with 17 kills, a match high.
The Cougars played hard but dropped to a record of 3-5 with the loss, while Saint Ambrose improved to 7-3 on the season.
The Cougars play their next home game on Thursday, September 26, against Robert Morris. The team welcomes you to come out and support them as they enter conference play.
Damone Griffin
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