[Volleyball] Volleyball Falcons sweep a pair at Freddy Spikefest

WICHITA, Kan. – On the first night of the Freddy Spikefest, the Friends University Falcons won both matches over the York University Panthers and Haskell Indian Nations University Fightin' Indians tonight (Sept. 30) inside the Garvey Center.

The opening match of the night saw the Falcons pull out a five-set battle over the Panthers, cruising to a 15-3 win in the final set to come away with the win.

After the Panthers slipped by with the first set 25-23, the Falcons dominated the second set to the tune of 25-12.

Holding a 16-15 lead in the third set, two kills each from Cajia Crawford (SR/Wichita, Kan.), Grace McClintock (FR/Woodland Park, Colo. ) and Sarah Lazar (SR/Rose Hill, Kan. ) fueled a 9-3 finish for a 25-18 win and a 2-1 lead overall in the match.

But the Panthers wouldn't go quietly and jumped out to a 21-16 lead in the fourth before holding on for another 25-23 win to force the decisive fifth set.

The final set though was all Friends, as the Falcons scored 10 of the first 11 points and a kill from Crawford ended the match with an exclamation point.

Lazar was huge in the win over York, delivering a career-high 25 kills and hitting .535 for the match. Crawford was also impressive, recording a season-high 15 kills that's just two off her career-best.

Maddy Strecker (SO/Hutchinson, Kan. ) also got in on the career night act, producing a career-best 37 assists for the Falcons.

Defensively, the Falcons were led by 14 digs from Antonia Perier (SO/Bakersfield, Calif.) and 12 digs by Greely Munroe (SR/Douglass, Kan.).

Jasmine Scarbrough paced the Panthers with 16 kills and Shelby Fronk had a team-high 34 assists. Cassie Richardson led three Panthers in double-figure digs with a team-leading 13 on the night.

The second match saw the Falcons control the action throughout, winning big by scores of 25-11, 25-10 and 25-14 over Haskell.

The Falcons jumped out to double-digit leads of 15-5 in the first set and 18-8 in the second to take full command.

Leading 9-7 in the third set, kills from McClintock and Lazar capped a run of four straight points and sparked a 9-3 burst overall to give the Falcons breathing room they wouldn't relinquish the rest of the way.

"It was a great night for us as a team getting two wins back-to-back," said Friends volleyball head coach Martin Ayin. "It was nice to see your offense click and our defense back us up."

Lazar again fueled the Falcons with 14 kills and hit .560 in the victory over the Fightin' Indians, with Crawford adding 11 kills. Strecker tallied 17 assists and Zoey Tauanu'u (SO/Wichita, Kan.) recording 12 assists, while Perier led everyone with 23 digs.

Mary Big Horn had a team-high seven kills and Maria Stewart led Haskell with 18 assists. Nakooma Pelt paced the Fightin' Indians with 13 digs.

The Falcons hit .387 in the first set before closing out the win emphatically by hitting .481 and .440 over the final two sets.

Friends will wrap up action at the Freddy Spikefest tomorrow vs. the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy tomorrow morning (Oct. 1) at 11 am.

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