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OUAZ Athletics

Jessica Pearce -- August 19, 2022
Richard Martinez
2
Benedictine Mesa BENU 0-1
3
Winner OUAZ OUAZ 1-0
Benedictine Mesa BENU
0-1
2
Final
3
OUAZ OUAZ
1-0
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 5 F
Benedictine Mesa BENU 25 23 25 22 15 (2)
OUAZ OUAZ 23 25 23 25 17 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball |

No. 17 Spirit Use Mix of Youth and Experience for Win in Opener

SURPRISE, Ariz. – It was an exciting start to the season for the 17th-ranked OUAZ women's volleyball team as the Spirit rallied from a 2-1 deficit for a five-set win over Benedictine Mesa on Thursday evening at Faith Arena.

It took 45 ties and 23 lead changes before OUAZ (1-0) could pull out the 23-25, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22, 17-15 victory. The Spirit has now won 11 straight at home, and this was the program's sixth straight win in a match that went the distance.

While 16 players appeared in the match for OUAZ – including 12 that made their Spirit debut – veterans Livia De Pra and Evonne Rodriguez provided the experience needed on Thursday. De Pra posted a team-best 14 kills while adding 16 digs, four blocks, and three service aces. Rodriguez also tallied 16 digs to match De Pra for the match high.

The service game was a massive factor in the match, with the Spirit holding an 11-8 edge in aces. That was key as each team had 20 missed serves. Trina Suldan tied De Pra with three aces of her own, with Kenzie Kuxhaus adding two and Rodriguez picking up an ace on match point.

Benedictine Mesa (0-1) finished with a 53-51 advantage kills, but the Spirit used 74 digs and 11 blocks to hold the Redhawks to .132 hitting. Each team hit negative in the fifth set, and OUAZ ended the match hitting .145.

Kaia Nowlin-Chaffino and Rylie Henige added eight kills apiece for the Spirit. Jessica Pearce totaled eight blocks while Suldan and Logan Kuehn recorded 21 and 16 assists, respectively.

BenU got 26 kills on .375 hitting from Layiah Daniel, but four of her eight hitting errors came in the deciding set.

OUAZ now gets set to host the OUAZ Invitational on August 25-27 in Faith Arena. The three-day event features seven teams playing 14 matches, with the Spirit opening against Wayland Baptist on August 25 at 6 p.m.
 
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