SXU Athletics
Last week, the women’s volleyball team hit the court for the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Crossover Tournament.
The two-day event took place on Friday and Saturday at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois.
The first game was against Purdue University-Calumet, where the Cougars took the win (25-20, 20-25, 13-25, 15-25).
The Cougars have defeated the Peregrines in every game they’ve played them since 2010.
SXU played the host, Trinity Christian, for the second game of the night, which took place at 6 p.m.
This time the Cougars were defeated in all three sets (27-25, 27-25, 25-16). SXU lost to the Trolls when they played them last year as well.
The stars of both of the games from SXU’s side were senior middle hitter Marie Hackert and junior right side Meghan Falsey, two leaders of the team. They had 14 kills each in the first game against the Peregrines.
Hackert also recorded three blocks (one solo).
Junior middle blocker and outside hitter Heidi Gregerson contributed nine kills and three blocks (one solo).
Kelli Shaffer, a senior setter, had an impressive 39 assists, eight digs and two block assists.
Dominique Aramburu, the Cougars’ senior libero, led her team with 22 digs; fellow senior Jessica Galotta, a defensive specialist and outside hitter, added 16 digs and five kills.
In the game against the Trolls, Hackert contributed 12 kills, while Falsey had 10 to set the pace for the rest of the team’s performance.
Gregerson shone defensively with five blocks (one solo), along with nine kills.
Shaffer recorded 27 assists, six digs and four kills, while Galotta led the Cougars with nine digs.
SXU fell short due to service errors, which totaled 13 just in the second game of the night.
The Cougars came out clawing the next day.
Having defeated the Crimson Wave in every game since 2012, they took down Calumet College of St. Joseph once again.
This time, the Cougars got the victory by winning in all three sets. They did so with an attack percentage of .271 (23-25, 16-25, 11-25).
Falsey led her team once again, posting 14 kills.
Shaffer helped out with 33 assists, six digs, two kills and two block assists.
Aramburu, strong on defense, recorded 15 digs.
Later that day, the Cougars defeated Olivet Nazarene University in all three sets as well, with an attack percentage of .379 (19-25, 18-25, 20-25).
SXU lost to the Olivet Nazarene Tigers last year.
Falsey once again remained in the double digits with 12 kills, pacing the team.
She had a great couple of matches, finishing with 26 kills for the day.
Hackert and Gregerson posted nine kills each.
Shaffer led her team with 36 assists, 10 digs and two service aces.
Earlier in the week on Oct. 21, the Cougars played Trinity International University in a conference game.
The Cougars took home a win in all three sets (12-25, 16-25, 11-25).
This marked head coach Robert Heersema’s 600th career win in his 27th season at SXU. This boosted his win percentage to .524.
The Cougars have taken down the Trojans in every match they have played them since 2010.
Falsey unsurprisingly led her team in this game as well with seven kills and a career-high six service aces; Falsey has had quite the performance these last couple of weeks.
Freshman outside hitter Anna O’Hara recorded six kills to help the Cougars to victory.
Hackert contributed five kills and three block assists, while Shaffer posted 15 assists, three kills and five digs.
Aramburu and sophomore defensive specialist Erica Harris each had seven digs to bolster the team’s defense of the Cougar net.
The Cougars hit their home court on Tuesday at 7 p.m. to take on the Robert Morris University Eagles for the second time this season.
This game will be special for some of the Cougars; it will be a family/senior night, so those who are graduating this year will be honored.
The Cougars defeated the Eagles earlier this season, so hopefully this game will be a repeat.
Alexis Flamburis
Sports Correspondent
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