GEORGETOWN, Texas - No. 18 ranked Southwestern Volleyball won their first matchup of the 2022 season against the George Fox Bruins at Robertson Gym on Thursday night. 

In the first game of the SU Invitational, the Pirates took the win after battling hard through the beginning of the first and second sets. 

"The team had some pressure put on them early tonight by a high-quality Bruins Volleyball team. Our staff was very pleased to see the team stick to what we needed to do on our side of the net late in set one," says head coach Don Flora.

The Pirates were able to pull away from a 12-12 tie in the first set. Errors by the Bruins allowed the Pirates to gain momentum both offensively and defensively going into the second set.

"It was nice to see our defense set the tone for our offense, we were able to get into a better offensive rhythm in sets two and three", says Flora. Riding that offensive and defensive momentum, Southwestern ran away from the Bruins with a 25-13 win in set two. 

The Pirates' offense was led by Christina Kuras, who notched 10 kills on the night with three service aces. Andie Valenzuela and Emma White both finished with 8 kills, while Geneva Nedrow steadied the defense with 13 digs. 

Claire Romo ended the night with 19 assists and first-year setter Annika Flora put her stamp on the offense by tallying 10 assists. 

After being tied early in the third set, Southwestern went on a run to make it 14-6, finishing the set 25-20 and driving home their first victory of the season. 

"We've been training at a good clip this preseason and it was nice to see the parts of that training come together when the lights came on tonight", concludes Flora.  

Southwestern will face Augsburg in their next matchup of the SU Invitational on Friday, September 2nd at 6:45 pm. 

Photo Credit: Carlos Barron