The Benedictine University Mesa women's volleyball team battled through five intense sets on Saturday afternoon, earning a hard-fought 3–2 victory over OUAZ in Cal Pac conference play. The Redhawks dropped the opening two sets (23–25, 17–25) but stormed back to win the final three (25–22, 25–21, 15–10).
OUAZ opened the match strong, capitalizing on Benedictine errors and aggressive net play from Nina Peay and Lauren Wamsley to edge out the first set. The Spirit maintained momentum into the second, pulling ahead late after a series of Benedictine attack errors to take a commanding 2–0 lead.
Refusing to fold, the Redhawks flipped the match in the third set behind a surge of energy from
Railey Druxman, who consistently found gaps in the OUAZ defense.
Setter Vivianna Galvan directed the offense with precision, spreading the ball effectively to
Sophie Drollinger,
Camille Collins, and
Janae Moore as Benedictine took the third 25–22.
The fourth set saw Benedictine carry that momentum forward. Timely kills from
Galvan and
Moore, paired with dominant blocking from
Collins and
BellaRose Branconier, helped the Redhawks close out a 25–21 win to force a deciding fifth set.
In the final frame, Benedictine jumped out to an early 5–1 lead thanks to back-to-back kills and a service ace from
Adiana Ortiz. OUAZ battled back to tie the score at 6–6, but the Spirit's defense tightened down the stretch. Despite the Redhawks coming back from multiple match points, OUAZ won the match 20-18.
Key Performers:
Up Next:
The Redhawks return to action on Wednesday, October 8
th as they take on Justice College at home.
