MONTGOMERY, Ala.—Southeastern won six of the seven sets it played during the first day of competition at the Faulkner Invitational.
The Fire battled to a 3-1 win over the host Eagles, then made quick work of Brenau with a 3-0 win to close the day.
Against Faulkner, the Fire had to shake off some early struggles trailing 11-5 in the first set. Southeastern picked up 12 kills in the 20 points the Fire needed to win the set. After recording four attack errors in the first 13 rallies, SEU had just two the rest of the set.
Still, the Fire trailed 23-19, but got a kill from Taylor Gregory for a key sideout. Three attack errors by Faulkner, a block by Emily Kalmink and Morgan Swanger, along with an ace by Elise Moralobo, and a clinching kill by freshman Katie Chillura helped the Fire complete the rally and win 25-23.
The attack was off the mark again in the second set, recording just nine kills against seven errors in a 25-20 loss to the Eagles.
In the third, the Fire trailed by three early, but went on a 9-3 run to capture momentum and lead 12-9. Faulkner stayed within reach, and came back to tie the set at 20. Following an SEU timeout, the Fire won the next five points, getting two kills from Emily Boehlein to win 25-20.
SEU rode that momentum to a dominant performance in the fourth, hitting .258 as a team with 14 kills on 31 attacks in a 25-13 win.
Taylor Gregory had a team-best 12 kills and .524 attacking percentage. The senior also helped out on three blocks. Classmate Emily Kalmink added 10 kills and four blocks.
Courtney Krause was the top distributor with 24 assists.
In the back row, Grace Ball had a team-high 18 digs in her SEU debut, and Elise Moralobo added 17.
The Fire hit with great precision against Brenau, especially in the first set, recording 12 kills on 24 attacks with just two errors to post a .417 attack percentage to win the set 25-11. For the match, SEU had 34 kills and 13 errors on 88 attacks.
Boehlein led the way with 11 kills and a .471 attacking percentage.
Southeastern took the second set 25-15 and the third 26-24 for the sweep.
Brenau struggled at the net, hitting just .098 as a team with 23 kills. The Fire had 40 digs as a team with Hannah Kaszubowski leading the way with eight.
Krause had 15 assists, and Emily Eurice added 10 in her debut.
The Fire return to action Saturday against William Carey and Truett McConnell.