Facing Cal Baptist on Thursday night, the SUU volleyball team dropped its fourth straight match in a 3-1 defeat.
A solid start
The T-birds began set one on a 4-0 spurt, later stretching their lead to 12-6. Cal Baptist cut the SUU lead to two using a 5-1 run (13-11), but two quick Thunderbird points put the lead back to four (15-11). A 4-1 stretch by the Lancers made it just a one-point advantage (16-15), but the T-birds answered with a 3-0 run to push the advantage to four (19-15). The set continued its back-and-forth nature, as six of the following eight points from Cal Baptist tied the set at 21 apiece. With the set on the line, Southern Utah rallied to notch four of the final five points to win the set 25-22 and take a 1-0 match lead.
Momentum switch
Set number two was all Lancers, as they jumped out to an 11-4 lead and the T-birds were unable to recover. SUU wouldn’t get closer from seven at that point, as Cal Baptist cruised to a 25-11 set two win and evened the match at 1-1.
Frame number three was much closer, as the two sides were even through 28 points (14-14). The Lancers broke away from SUU with a 6-0 run, jumping ahead 20-14, which led to a 25-18 set win and a 2-1 match advantage.
Southern Utah began set four with a 5-3 lead, but a big Cal Baptist run turned the set in the other direction. The home team used an 8-0 run to get ahead 11-5. The T-birds were able to cut the deficit down to three on three different occasions, but the Lancers’ run was too much to overcome. Cal Baptist would close out the set for a 25-18 win, taking the match 3-1 and sending SUU to a fourth straight defeat.
Teniyah Leuluai led the team in assists in defeat, tallying 26. Leuluai and Victoria Zibecchi led the way in digs, registering 9 each.
Up next
Southern Utah (8-12, 4-5 WAC) finishes a four-match road trip on Saturday, Oct. 26 against Grand Canyon.
The match is set to begin at 2 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.
