CHICAGO (Oct. 10, 2008) – Senior Kristina Stewart recorded a match-high 10 kills in leading visiting Air Force to capture a 3-0 win over Chicago State tonight at the Jacoby Dickens Center. The Falcons hiked their season record to 5-13 and the Cougars fell to 0-21 on the year.
Air Force posted a 10-4 advantage early in the first set after sophomore Nichole Stillwell posted a solo block, but Chicago State responded with an 11-5 run to tie the score at 15-15 after sophomore Hanya Minta (Eden Prairie, MN/Eden Prairie) (Eden Prairie, Minn.) recorded a service ace. The Cougars later took their biggest lead of the stanza at 19-15 before the Falcons later regrouped with 10 points to post a 1-0 lead in the match.
The visitors opened the second set with a 6-1 lead after kills from senior Jasamin Pettie and Stillwell. CSU scored five of the next eight points to close within 9-6 after redshirt junior Shamara Clark (Bloomington, IN/South)'s (Bloomington, Ind.) service ace. The Cougars closed to within 15-11 later in the set after junior Jean Keenan (/) (Braidwood, Ill.) recorded a kill and a service ace on consecutive plays, but the Falcons later hiked their advantage back to 18-13 on another Stillwell kill. After a Clark kill brought the home team to within four points (18-14), freshman Victoria Martinez then recorded seven points off her serve, including a service ace on set point, to send Air Force into intermission with a two-set advantage.
In the third set, a service ace by sophomore Kelly Spencer gave the Falcons a 4-1 leading margin before an AF hitting error and a service ace from freshman Mazvita Maziveyi (Harare, Zimbabwe/Hillside (NC)) (Durham, N.C.) brought Chicago State to within a point at 4-3. Air Force then produced a 12-3 scoring run that included a pair of kills from senior Kristina Stewart and junior Katie Batchelder as it increased its lead to 16-6. The Cougars could get no closer than eight points as the Falcons finished the set by scoring nine of the final 16 points.
Clark, Keenan and junior Niena Posey (Chicago, IL/Lincoln College) (Chicago, Ill.) each tallied four kills to lead Chicago State on the offensive end. Junior Megan Granko (Lockport, IL/Lincoln College) (Lockport, Ill.) led the Cougar defense with 11 digs and Posey contributed two block assists. Junior Chy Crichton (The Dalles, OR/Mt. Hood CC) (The Dalles, Ore.) recorded 10 assists and added six digs, while Minta produced nine assists, six digs and a .500 hitting clip (3-0-6) for the Cougars.
Batchelder added nine kills with two block assists and also hit .500 for the match for Air Force. Pettie posted a match-best .700 hitting clip with seven kills on 10 errorless swings, while sophomore Stephanie Stanford recorded a match-high 21 assists and Martinez tallied a match-best 13 digs to lead the Falcon defensive unit.
CSU travels to Texas for a pair of matches next weekend, beginning Friday, Oct. 17 at Texas-Pan American with the first serve set for 7 p.m.
~ CSU ~
