Senior
Hannah Zuege had a season-high 21 kills - to go with 16 digs and two aces - and junior
Jocelyn Chavez had a school-record 41 digs to lead Saint Mary-of-the-Woods to a 17-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-17, 15-9 victory at Oakland City on Tuesday night.
Ariana Cruz also had a career night with 42 assissts and 21 digs for the Pomeroys, who won their 13th straight match and opened River States Conference action with a victory.
The Pomeroys got off to a slow start in the opening set, finding themselves in a 17-9 deficit. SMWC rallied to within 18-14 on kills by Zuege,
Alex Hernandez and
Masa Pesic, but the Mighty Oaks called timeout before bouncing back with four of the next five points.
The Pomeroys found some momentum in the second set. Cruz set up Morgan Krouse for a pair of kills as SMWC rallied from a 16-11 deficit to get within 19-16. The Mighty Oaks maintained enough solid play to pull through.
SMWC pulled ahead 16-10 in the third as Zuege had four kills and an ace.
Krause and
Jadyn Dew put down kills as the Pomeroys extended their lead to 23-16 before taking advantage of Oakland City attack errors to close the set 25-19.
SMWC built off the momentum to jump out to a 7-1 lead in the fourth. Dew had kills on the first two points, and Zuege and
Raymiah Allen combined for a block.
Strong attacks from Hernandez and
Madison Hill, who had 10 and six kils respectively, helped answer an Oakland City run as SMWC led 11-8.
Hill, Dew and Hernandez picked up kills prior to two more from Zuege to put SMWC up 21-14. Zuege picked up a kill and an ace to help close the set.
A variety of hitters contributed in the fifth, but Allen and Zuege had three apiece to lead the way to the come-from-behind triumph.
SMWC returns to action Friday at home against RSC newcomer IUPUC. The match will be Youth Night with elementary, middle and high school students receiving free admission. Action begins at 7 p.m. in Knoerle Center.
