Ravens Volleyball fought for a win in the quarterfinals of the Heart Championship Saturday night.
The No. 4 seed Ravens defeated the No. 5 seed Grand View Vikings, 3-1.
The Ravens opened the match with a convincing first-set win. The Ravens used a 7-1 run to take a 12-5 lead early in the set, then extended that lead to 20-11. They closed it out on a 5-1 run to win the set 25-12.
The Ravens had four aces in the opening set, coming from Marissa Mantz, Haley Cahill, Kelly DuMeulenaere and Hokuloni Sagapolu.
The second set featured big runs by each team. Unfortunately for the Ravens, the Vikings had the more dominant run. The Ravens took an 8-1 lead in the second set, continuing their strong play from the first set. But then something clicked for the Vikings as the visitors went on a 19-4 run to take complete control of the set. Grand View went on to win 25-15 to level the match at 1-1.
The third set started in the Ravens favor as they jumped out to a 10-5 lead. The Vikings bounced back once again, leveling the score at 10-10 before the Ravens went on a 9-1 run to take control of the set. The Ravens closed out the 25-17 set win to move ahead 2-1 in the match.
Sabrina Oncins and Maura Lickteig each had 4 kills in the set to help the Ravens.
The fourth set was a fight to the finish. The Vikings held a lead for a majority of the match, but a kill by Regan Bruggeman tied the match at 17-17, then Lucy Drexel's block gave the Ravens an 18-17 lead.
The set remained tight, with the teams trading blows. Finally, with the set tied 22-22, the Ravens took control. Kills by Oncins and Sagapolu put the Ravens up 24-23 and the match was won with a block as the Ravens took a 25-23 win in the fourth.
Lickteig had a match-high 12 kills with Oncins right behind at 10 kills. The Ravens served well, getting 10 aces in the match. Mary Pat Taylor, Sagapolu, Mantz and DuMeulenaere each recorded 2 aces. The Ravens also racked up 16 block as Lickteig and Carolina Zapata each had 4 block assists.
With the win, the Ravens advance to the semifinals of the Heart Championship, traveling to take on No. 1 seed Park University on Tuesday, Nov. 7.
