#9 Vikings struggle at Palm Beach State College but escape with a 5 set win

Lake Worth, FL  The #9 SJR State College Vikings found a way to get the win at Palm Beach State College 22-25, 25-18, 10-25, 25-18, 15-12 to improve their record to 25-4, 14-1 in conference play.

Set 1 22-25

The Vikings started set 1 with a 15-11 lead but the Panthers used a 7-2 run to take a 19-17 lead.  Hitting errors plagued the Vikings as they made 9 in the set.  Mayya Kucherova led the Vikings with 4 kills and 1 ace..

Set 2 25-18

The Vikings jumped out to a 7-2 lead early.  Palm Beach closed the gap to one point trailied 15-16 but the Vikings responded with a 9-3 run to finish the set.  Rickie Sheets had 3 aces and 4 digs to lead the Vikings.  

Set 3 10-25

The Vikings trailed early 5-11 and then gave up a 13-1 run to fall behind 6-24.  Passing and hitting errors by SJR State were the primary issues.  A late 4-1 run by the Vikings was the lone highlight of the set.   Kendall Hatchett had the only 2 kills for the Vikings..    

Set 4 25-18

As bad as set 3 was offensively for the Vikings, set 4 was the complete opposite.  The Vikings hit .353, had 3 aces and 2 blocks to control the set.  The Vikings were led by Cassidy Casey who had 5 kills and 2 blocks

Set 5 15-12

SJR State started fast, scoring the first 3 points but then gave up the next 6 mostly on unforced errors.  The Vikings regained the lead at 8-7 only to fall behind again 9-10.  2 kills each from Kucherova and Sheets pushed the lead to 13-11.  Another kill from Kucherova gave the Vikings match point and a ace from Gordon ended it.  

LEADERS

Kills - Mayya Kucherova 14

Assists - Mone Gordon 32

Digs - Dariana Luna 17

Aces - Mayya Kucherova 5

Blocks - Cassidy Casey 4

Points - Mayya Kucherova 19.5

NOTES

Kucherova's 19.5 points and 5 aces are a season high.  She had her 6th double-double with 14 kills and 13 digs

Hatchett reached 391 career kills, 10th most by a Viking all time

Luna had her 561st dig of the season which is the most all time for the Vikings

Cohen's Comments

Tonight's match was a back and forth battle.  We showed tremendous resilience in bouncing back from a terrible 3rd set.  Palm Beach State came to play and gave us all we could handle.  We needed all 14 healthy Vikings to help us get this victory tonight.  

Up Next

The Vikings travel to South Florida State College tomorrow, 1PM start time.