VB Wins 5 Set Thriller at Avila

Kansas City, Mo. – The Lady Warriors outlasted the Avila University Eagles on Friday night in Kansas City. This match was the second of the two long road trips of the week. Sterling came away with their first KCAC victory of the early conference season. It was a tightly contested match with the largest margin of victory in any set being just 5 points.

SC won sets 2, 4, and 5 while Avila won sets 1 and 3. Both of Sterling's set losses were in extra points. In the first set, Sterling battled back from 22-24 to tie the match at 24 before Avila managed to score two points in a row for a 26-24 first set win. Set two was back and forth in the first half, but the edge was to Sterling in the second half of the set. Sterling eventually won 25-20. The Warriors played from behind much of the third set before taking a 19-18 lead. They looked to have the set all but won with a 24-21 lead before the Eagles scored 4 straight points to take the lead. Sterling tied it at 25, but, once again, Avila scored back-to-back points to win the set 27-25.

Sterling was dominant much of the fourth set before it got close at the end. They spent much of the match leading by as many as 7 points at 22-15. Avila fired back with 5 straight points to cut the lead to two before Sterling closed it out 25-22 tying the match at 2 sets apiece. SC started the fifth set behind, but took over after just a few points. With the score 11-10, Sterling, the Warriors closed out the match scoring 4 straight for the 15-10 set win, and the 3 sets to 2 match win.

Kodie Herd had the most dominating performance of her career with 21 kills and was followed closely by Aliya McClanahan with a tie for her second best performance with 20 kills. Aubrey Young had one of her career best nights with 48 assists, and Makenna Linden found herself in the #7 spot on the single match digs list with 39 digs, a new career high for Linden.

SC improves their record to 10-6 (1-2) on the season. The Lady Warriors will try to use the momentum from this win to defeat the McPherson Bulldogs on Wednesday evening in the Gleason Center in Sterling. They follow up the McPherson match with another home match against #6 Oklahoma Wesleyan University.

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