JONESBORO, Ark. (8/31/24) – Devyn Lewis powered 13 kills in the final two sets on Saturday to help the Arkansas State volleyball team rally from a 2-1 deficit and defeat Saint Louis 3-2 (25-21, 21-25, 16-25, 25-15, 15-11), securing A-State's sweep of the A-State Invitational inside First National Bank Arena.
Lewis led the Red Wolves (3-0) with 16 kills in the match on 27 swings, hitting .556. Daedrianna Cail and Sarah Martinez represented A-State on the All-Tournament squad, with Martinez earning MVP honors. Cail knocked down six blocks, including four in the last two sets, while Martinez corralled a match-high 26 digs.
A-State limited the Billikens (1-2) to a .224 clip offensively – .106 in the fourth and fifth stanzas.
Addison Collum drew her first career start, tallying 10 kills and three blocks, while Kaitlin Whitlock notched 13 kills and nine digs. Setters Valeria Ortiz (26 assists) and Erin Madigan (25) combined for 51 assists to guide A-State's attack.
The sides traded leads five times in the first set, including 16 ties, as Kaitlin Whitlock recorded six kills to lift the Scarlet and Black to a 1-0 lead with a 25-21 decision in the opener.
Saint Louis used an 8-0 run that included a pair of aces by Vivian Kieffer to move to a 10-3 advantage in the second set – a lead that it would not relinquish en route to answering with a 25-21 second-set victory to tie up the match.
The visitors continued momentum in the third set, relying on a 7-1 scoring stretch to move to a 10-4 lead. A-State trimmed the deficit to three on one of Cail's eight kills, but Addy Brus recorded seven of her 21 kills to push SLU to a 2-1 lead in the contest, winning the frame 25-16.
After the Billikens scored the first two points of the fourth set, A-State rattled off five straight as part of a larger 8-1 run with aces by Cail and Lewis to lead 8-3. The Red Wolves pushed their lead out to as much as 11 on a kill by Whitlock that made it 21-10, and Lewis later sealed the 25-15 fourth-set win and force a fifth frame.
A-State began the fifth set with four straight points on two kills by Lewis and a pair of blocks by Cail and Collum. Saint Louis would pull within one but was unable to close the gap. Following an A-State timeout at 12-11, the Red Wolves sealed the 3-0 weekend with three consecutive points, capped by a Lewis kill.
NEXT UP
The Red Wolves take their unbeaten record on the road for three straight weeks beginning next Friday-Sunday at the Blue Raider Bash in Murfreesboro, Tenn. There, A-State will battle Lehigh (Fri., 4 p.m.), Austin Peay (Sat., 11 a.m.) and host Middle Tennessee (Sun., 2 p.m.). All three matches will be broadcast live on ESPN Plus.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans can follow the team on Twitter (@AStateVB) and Instagram (astatevb) along with liking the Arkansas State Red Wolves Volleyball page on Facebook for the latest news and updates regarding the team.
