Eagles Fly Past Falcons in Senior Night Sweep

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Daphne Gardner came close to a triple-double, Kyleighn Block took center stage on Senior Night, and Avila volleyball (7-16, 3-7 KCAC) picked up a critical late season win by handling Friends (8-22, 1-10 KCAC) on Wednesday night in Mabee Fieldhouse.

 The Falcons boasted one of the top offenses in the conference last season on the shoulders of KCAC Player of the Year Sarah Lazar, but a rebuilding Friends team has struggled mightily this season, especially at the net – on both ends of it – and the Eagles took full advantage of that on Wednesday, slugging .287 as a team, their second highest mark of the season, and out-hitting Friends by more than 200 points.

With 12 spots in the KCAC Tournament on offer and three games against tougher teams left in Avila's regular season schedule, this win doesn't guarantee the Eagles a spot in next month's postseason – but it helps out a ton. Now armed with three league victories, there are now a few more teams behind the Eagles in the league standings, and if Avila can pick up one more win in their final three tries, a spot in the postseason field will be all but assured.

Just over 24 hours removed from their four-set setback against College of the Ozarks, Avila returned to Mabee Fieldhouse for the second of three home matches this week on Wednesday night. The Eagles struggled out of the gate on Tuesday against the Bobcats and never really recovered, but experienced no such issues on Wednesday against the Falcons: Avila started the game up 8-3, and a 6-1 Eagle run midway through the frame, anchored by back to back kills from Maddie Jones, put Avila in cruise control.

The Eagles latest scored five straight points on Kyleighn Block's serve, part of an 8-1 run overall, to reach set point, and even though Friends managed a couple of points Avila finally put set one to bed, 25-15, thanks to a setter kill from Daphne Gardner.

After never leading in the first set, Friends built a small 5-3 edge to open the second before Avila got it going, steadily building a 9-3 run to vault in front 12-8. Three straight kills from McKenzi Shurley kept the Falcons in it at 13-12, but then Block, the Eagles' super senior, stepped up to the service line and anchored a run of eight straight points for the home side.

From there, the Eagles just had to coast down the home stretch. A Paige Gillund service ace gave Avila set point, and Diamond Sedlak capped off a strong set two with a kill to give Avila its second 25-15 victory of the night.

Needing a win to stay alive, Friends started the third set up 6-3 before Sedlak fired in three straight kills to spearhead a 7-0 Avila run, completely flipping the script in the Eagles' favor. Avila later scored five straight with Block once again at the line to get to 20, and one final Falcon attack error helped Avila wrap up the match on its first try, sealing a 25-13 win in set three to complete the sweep, Avila's third three-set win this season.

Shurley had the best night on an otherwise cold Falcon offense, tallying six kills on .312, and dig machine libero Antonia Perier finished with 21 in just three sets. Avila's offense was in sync from the get go, thanks largely to a great game from Sedlak (9 kills, .312 hitting) and a close to historic game from Gardner, who tied Sedlak for the match high with nine kills (.600 hitting) along with 27 assists and eight digs – very close to what would have been the first triple-double in recent Avila history.

Senior Night was Avila's chance to honor its only senior, defensive specialist Kyleighn Block, who is finishing her third season at Avila after two years at nearby Metropolitan Community College. Block stepped into a featured role in the Avila backcourt immediately in her first season and has remained a critical piece of the Eagle defense, as well as an unquestioned leader of the team. She's close to 1,000 digs just over her time at Avila despite not always fielding the most attacks, and her presence will be missed next season and beyond.

The road gets tougher from here on in for Avila, which will return to Mabee Fieldhouse for the final time this season on Friday, October 27 to host a resurgent Bethel team on Food Pantry Night. JV gets the action started at 4 PM with varsity to follow at 6; as always, you can watch all the action live and for free on the Avila Sports Network with Max Williams on the call from Kansas City.