{"id":1699,"date":"2021-08-22T22:43:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T04:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arizonasports.net\/?p=1699"},"modified":"2021-08-26T19:58:37","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T01:58:37","slug":"spirit-maintain-five-set-magic-to-claim-ouaz-invitational-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arizonasports.net\/?p=1699","title":{"rendered":"Spirit maintain five-set magic to claim OUAZ Invitational crown"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"00db3667993c2ddddbdd3e706fc01492\" data-index=\"6\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Above Post Ad 2 -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:638px;height:70px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-4024319323781499\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"8631827568\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n\n<p><em>Josh Fisher <br>OUAZ Athletics<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SURPRISE<\/strong> \u2013 The OUAZ women&#8217;s volleyball team twice surrendered a 2-0 lead before earning a pair of five-set victories on Saturday night to earn the title at the inaugural OUAZ Invitational. OUAZ (3-0) defeated Montana State-Northern in the early match before dropping Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) in the nightcap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the two results, OUAZ has now won seven straight matches that have been decided in a fifth set dating back to the 2019 season. This is the first time in program history the team has started 3-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>OUAZ began the evening with a 25-19, 25-17, 24-26, 23-25, 15-11 win over MSU-Northern (1-3) in front of a rowdy home crowd. The Spirit seemed to be cruising through two sets, but we were unable to avoid a deciding set with a pair of two-point losses<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In that fifth set, OUAZ raced out to a 7-2 lead and then did enough from that point to secure the win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Spirit tallied 63 kills and hit .187 in the win. They limited the SkyLights to .096 hitting behind 92 digs and eight blocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><dfn>Kate Pestova<\/dfn>&nbsp;led three Spirit players in double figures with 23 kills to become the first player in program history with 20-plus kills in consecutive matches. She also finished with 15 digs for a second straight double-double.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><dfn>Avie Butsko<\/dfn>&nbsp;added 17 kills and four blocks in her season debut.&nbsp;<dfn>Kahea A&#8217;ea<\/dfn>&nbsp;had 10 kills and 15 digs for her first career double-double.&nbsp;<dfn>Cristal Carrizoza<\/dfn>&nbsp;dished out 52 assists and had three aces to match Butsko for the team lead.&nbsp;&nbsp;<dfn>Valentina Trovato<\/dfn>&nbsp;set her career-high with 35 digs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With only a 45 minute break before facing a rested Embry-Riddle (4-3) squad, OUAZ found enough in the tank in the end for a 25-20, 25-20, 24-26, 16-25, 17-15 win to cap nearly five hours of action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Using a 6-0 run in the first set and then an 8-0 run in the second, the Spirit once again was in control with a 2-0 lead. They were poised for a sweep leading 24-22 in the third before the Eagles scored the next four points to extend the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Embry-Riddle used that momentum to open the fourth set with 11 of the first 14 points in pushing the match to a fifth set. The deciding set was all OUAZ early as they jumped out to an 8-2 lead before the Eagles stormed back to even the score at 11-11. Tied at 15-15 a few points later, Pestova ended the night with a pair of kills to complete the perfect weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pestova had 22 kills on .315 hitting with 17 digs in the match. She also chipped in five blocks and one ace.&nbsp;<dfn>Chelsea Taylor<\/dfn>&nbsp;added 12 kills and five blocks. Butsko finished with 10 kills and eight blocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a team, OUAZ recorded 57 kills \u2013 including 30 in the first two sets \u2013 one .160 hitting. They held Embry-Riddle to just .107 hitting behind 100 digs and 13 blocks while adding six service aces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Carrizoza had the second 20-20 in program history \u2013 and first by a setter \u2013 with 40 assists and 20 digs. She also had three aces, two kills, and one ace. Trovato had 22 digs and&nbsp;<dfn>Brooklyn Rainer<\/dfn>&nbsp;finished with four blocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By winning the two matches, OUAZ won the OUAZ Invitational as the lone team to go undefeated in the modified round-robin format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Spirit will now have 10 days off before facing Park Gilbert on August 31 in Gilbert, Ariz.<\/p>\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Josh Fisher OUAZ Athletics SURPRISE \u2013 The OUAZ women&#8217;s volleyball team twice surrendered a 2-0 lead before earning a pair of five-set victories on Saturday night<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[486,23,15],"tags":[487,48],"class_list":["post-1699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ouaz","category-top-news","category-volleyball","tag-ouaz","tag-volleyball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonasports.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonasports.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonasports.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonasports.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonasports.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1699"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/arizonasports.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1705,"href":"https:\/\/arizonasports.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1699\/revisions\/1705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonasports.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arizonasports.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonasports.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arizonasports.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}