Benedictine Volleyball picked up another non-conference win at home Tuesday evening.
The Ravens defeated the Avila University Eagles, 3-1, in their first home match since Aug. 26.
The visiting Eagles took a 1-0 lead with a 25-21 win in the first set. Avila led for the majority of the opening set as the Ravens struggled to find any rhythm on the attack.
The second set was back-and-forth as the teams battled to 14-14 before the Ravens and
Stefania Scomazzon took over. Scomazzon and
JoJo Vander Woude combined for a block to give the Ravens a 15-14 lead and kick-started an 11-2 run that ended with the Ravens taking the second set, 25-16.
Scomazzon had 5 aces during the Ravens set-winning run as they leveled the match at 1-1.
The Ravens carried their hot play into the third set, winning 25-15 to take a 2-1 lead in the match. After the Eagles scored to make the Benedictine lead 12-5, the Ravens ripped off 10-straight points to go up 22-5.
The Eagles did finish the set with 8-straight points to make the score closer than it really was, but the Ravens won comfortably.
Mya Schirk kept up the Ravens strong play at the service line, notching 3 aces in the set.
The Ravens closed things out with a 25-14 win in the fourth set, taking the match 3-1.
The Eagles tried to stop an early Ravens run, calling time out down 7-4, but the Ravens pushed that lead to 18-9 to take control of the set.
Schirk added another ace in the fourth set, finishing the match with 4 aces. Scomazzon led the team with 8 aces, and
Ava Penuel added 3 more as the Ravens piled up 17 as a team. That's the second-best mark the Ravens program has recorded in a single match since 2008.
Barbara Terra led the attack with 18 kills, Scomazzon had 12, and
Bridget O'Sullivan added 7 kills.
Scomazzon had 2 solo blocks and the Ravens had 10 block assists as a team – Vander Woude had 4 of those.
Penuel recorded 14 digs,
Wren VanCleave had 12 digs and 34 assists, and
Kelly DeMeulenaere notched 10 digs.
The Ravens (8-2) open Heart of America Conference play on Friday, Sept. 11 at Park University, and then they'll host MidAmerica Nazarene University at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 12.
