BLACKSBURG, Va. – The Towson University volleyball team presented Head coach Don Metil with his first coaching victory as a Tiger following a 3-0 win over St. Francis (Pa.) Saturday. Towson fell to Pacific, 3-0 in its first match of the day at the Hokie Classic.
“It's great to get the first win out of the way,” said Metil. “As this young team continues to build trust and consistency, good things will happen at Towson with regularity.”
Freshman Lindsay Flaherty represented the Tigers on the all-tournament team after contributing 13 kills, a team-high 13 blocks, seven digs and a service ace in the first four matches of her collegiate career.
The match against St. Francis proved to be the Tigers most successful hitting match of the weekend as they finished the contest with a .494 hitting percentage. Towson demonstrated that early as it hit .720 in the first set to the Red Flashes' .227. The Tigers jumped out to a 15-6 lead on a kill from junior Saitaua Iosia. Towson claimed the 25-15 set win on an ace from Iosia. The Tigers and St. Francis battled through five ties early in the second set. However, Towson used a 9-2 run to take a lead it would not relinquish and won the second set, 25-16.
Towson turned in another strong hitting performance in the third set with a .536 mark. Trailing 9-7 in the third, the Tigers rattled off seven straight points including six on the service game of junior Paige Sekerak to take back the lead. Towson settled for the 25-14 win in the third set and claimed victory in the match.
Iosia led all players with a match-high 15 kills and added five digs for the Tigers. Junior Victoria Williams had 13 kills and five digs while sophomore Kelsey Polak dished out a career-high 41 assists with four kills and six digs. Sekerak had eight digs while sophomore Candace Steadman had nine kills.
St. Francis was led by Hannah Kutny's 10 kills.
In the morning match, Towson and Pacific were tied at 9-9 before a 5-0 run gave Pacific a lead it would not relinquish. Pacific claimed the 25-15 first set win and took a 1-0 lead in the match. In the second set, Pacific opened up a 14-9 advantage and extended its lead to 20-11. Pacific took a 2-0 lead with a 25-11 victory in the set.
Towson took an 8-3 lead in the third set behind a pair of service aces and a kill from Iosia. Pacific battled back to score eight of the next 11 points and tie the set at 11-11. However, Pacific was able to take advantage of five straight errors by Towson to take a lead it would not give up. Pacific secured the 3-0 win in the contest with a 25-18 win in the third set.
Iosia posted three kills, five digs and a pair of service aces to lead the Towson attack. Sekerak led Towson with 11 digs in the contest. Flaherty contributed three kills and three blocks while sophomore Kyana Miller finished with five assists and five digs. Junior Capri Tirrell added nine digs to the Towson's efforts.
Lexi Elman led Pacific and all players with nine kills while Kimmy Whitson dished out 19 assists. Kat Schulz finished with eight kills and 12 digs.
Towson returns to action on Tuesday, September 3 when the Tigers host Coppin State at 7 p.m. That contest will be the first Tiger athletic event to be held in the brand new SECU Arena.
