The weekend of Oct. 12, 2018, the Saint Leo women’s volleyball team started their first of two home games. The first game seemed easy for the Lions as they defeat Lynn University 3-0 shutting them out on the night. The victory evened the Lions out on the season to a 10-10 record while improving their Sunshine State Conference record to 7-5.
Freshman setter Cassandra Kamien continued to shine and disrupted the ball well as she finished the night with 35 assists. Her defense was good too as she racked up 13 digs and five blocks in the victory. Sophomore Ashley Quero led the impressive offense with 10 kills while having a 0.36 hitting percentage. Junior Annabella Arcari joined the offensive onslaught with nine kills of her own and a 0.57 hitting percent. Junior Victoria Omoregie also helped out with eight kills and two blocks. As a team, the Lions had an impressive 0.38 hitting percentage while having only six errors over the three sets. The team was also notable on the defensive side of the game as they picked up 12 blocks and had 38 digs, all this while limiting Lynn to just a 0.083 hitting percentage in the match. After this impressive win, the Lions looked to keep the momentum going and get back to a positive record. They faced a tough Barry team who has just two losses all season with a sweep already on the Lions earlier in the year.
On Oct. 13, the Lions dropped a close game to their rivals, Barry. This win would have been huge giving them a nice win streak and a positive record on the season. Despite having five hitters with double digits, the Lions dropped the match to Barry 2-3. Barry, a powerhouse in the conference improves to 20-2 on the season with a 12-2 record in the Sunshine State Conference. Saint Leo jumped out early with a strong attack getting them the early advantage 1-0 in the first set. They won the first set in a close battle 25-23 where the Lions had a good lead and Barry came back to make it close. The second set was all Barry as they won with the largest set lead of the night with a 25-19 victory. The third set brought the momentum back to the Lions as they won another close set 25-22. The Lions were up 2-1 and only needed one set to close out the tough Barry squad; a back and forth fourth set was the closest of the night where Barry stayed alive with a 25-23 victory. The final and fifth set started, and Saint Leo began where they used a 5-2 run to take the lead at the switch 8-7. Barry would then score four straight and hang on to the lead to close out the Lions 15-12; this was a hard-fought game against arguably the best team in the conference showing impressive feats by the Lions. Kamien once again was the conductor on offense where she helped five hitters have 25 or more attacks in the game. The three outside hitters for the Lions finished with 50, 41 and 39 attacks while the mids had 26 and 25 of their own. Kamien finished with a crazy 56 assists, seven digs and three blocks. Quero led the Lions again with 19 kills adding to her two blocks. Omoregie had a great night as well with 12 kills and three blocks of her own. Juniors Anilise Fitzi, Nina Vattovaz and Annabella Arcari all finished with 11 kills. Senior Reggie Van Devender was all of the court on defense with 28 digs and four service aces.
The Lions hope to look at the positives from this game and keep moving forward as they play away against West Georgia Friday, Oct. 19.
