The victory extends the Lady Wildcats' winning streak to five matches and keeps them within a game of first-place Huston-Tillotson and Our Lady of the Lake University.
Wiley College (13-2, 6-2 in RRAC) out-hit the Celts .182 to .094. The Lady Wildcats racked up 42 kills in 110 attempts – which was significantly better than St. Thomas-Houston's 29 kills in 106 attempts. Larissa Francisco (JR/Sao Paulo, Brazil) and Saadia Sahadeo (SO/Washington D.C.) shared the team lead with 10. Francisco tallied 13 digs to record her third double-double of the season. Sahadeo contributed to five of the Lady Wildcats 10 blocks. Tsvetelina Bozhanova (SR/Razlog, Bulgaria) returned to the lineup – adding eight kills, seven digs and three block assists. Alexia Souza (JR/Taubate, Sao Paulo, Brazil) assisted on 36 of Wiley College's 41 kills and tallied her seventh double-double with 12 digs.
"Our defense came up big," head coach Mike MacNeill said. "Our offense was a little under what we expected. Larissa and Saadia each had 10 kills. Tsvety stepped up on the right side. Olena was key in several big moments. Our middles strong play opened up our hitters."
Defensively, the Lady Wildcats out-blocked St. Thomas-Houston 10-7 and recorded 58 digs to the Celts 46. Alia Scott (FR/Houston, Texas) joined Francisco and Souza in double-figures with 13 digs. Wiley College recorded three service aces with Souza tallying two and Fedorenko one.
The Lady Wildcats took control late in the first set. Kills by Olena Fedorenko (JR/Sevastopol, Ukraine), Saadia Sahadeo and Larissa Francisco put Wiley College up 24-20. Bozhanova clinched the set with a kill. Wiley College pulled out to a three-point lead in the second set. The Celts kept it close and pulled within one late in the set. Bozhanova recorded a kill and Sahadeo and Francisco blocked an attack to give the Lady Wildcats a four-point lead. Francisco ended the set with a kill.
In the third set, the Lady Wildcats trailed early but was able to rally and a take a two-point lead. St. Thomas-Houston answered back and took a 14-12 lead. Souza and Sahadeo combined on a block to spark a five-point run. Sahadeo recorded two kills, Frank and Bozhanova added one to give Wiley College a 17-14 advantage. The Lady Wildcats reached match point with a three-point lead but a set error, ball handling error and an attack error allowed the Celts to tie the set at 24.
BOX SCORE
After a timeout, Frank spiked a ball that went over the net for her fourth kill to put Wiley College back in front. Bozhanova sealed the match with a hard hit ball which St. Thomas-Houston was unable to advance.
Next week, Wiley College travels to Our Lady of the Lake University and Huston-Tillotson University with first place in the Red River Athletic Conference on the line.
"The tournament spot is good," MacNeill said. "Our ultimate goal is to go in as the first seed. This next weekend is huge for us. Our message to the women before the game was to get to first we have be third first. We were tied for third with St. Thomas, so we now have a game over them. We travel to Our Lady of the Lake and Huston-Tillotson. If we pull those out, we are tied for first."
WILEY COLLEGE ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
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