Beretti’s barrage of kills catapults QU women’s volleyball team to GLVC victory over Missouri S&T

QUINCY — The Quincy University women’s volleyball team fed the hot hand, and the Hawks parlayed that momentum into one of their most dominant sets of the season.

In Saturday’s Great Lakes Valley Conference and homecoming match against Missouri S&T, Quincy sophomore outside hitter Susanna Beretti finished the third set with three straight kills, and the Hawks scored nine of the first 11 points of the fourth set on their way to a 22-25, 25-19, 25-21, 25-11 victory at Pepsi Arena.

“I felt really comfortable swinging because I knew my teammates had my back,” said Beretti, who had six kills in that third set and 16 in the match.

Senior right side Emma Wijnbergen knew Beretti was going to end the third set as soon as freshman Elena Kasavica sent the set in Beretti’s direction.

“When she set Susie, I just knew we were done,” Wijnbergen said. “I just knew we were going to the next set. That’s the confidence we have in each other.”

QU coach Mark Jones said Beretti’s run was a testament to how the Hawks respond to a hitter who has found her groove.

“We’re just going to keep setting her,” Jones said. “Whoever’s on, we’re just going to keep setting her and give her the ball as much as possible. It’s not necessarily an equal distribution, it’s whoever’s on, you’re going to get the ball and we’re going to ride you all the way.”

Kasavica started the fourth set with an ace, and back-to-back aces by Janelle Pye-Blacknard forced a Miners timeout with the Hawks leading 8-2. Kasavica notched two more aces to extend the Hawks’ lead to 17-7 and give the Hawks five aces in the set.

“It’s all about serving, getting off to a good start,” Jones said. “We served really tough, got them out of system, aced them a lot.”

Sophomore middle blocker Erin Matzke said the Hawks’ fourth set was as crisp and clean as it comes.

“I think it’s definitely one of our better ones,” Matzke said. “Everything just seemed to be clicking. We were putting the ball away, we were getting a lot of really great passes, really great digs. Set location was amazing. Our decision making was really good.”

Kasavica dished out 52 assists Saturday, giving her five matches with 50 or more assists this season. She had 60 assists in a five-set win over Winona State on Sept. 13.

Wijnbergen led the Hawks with 17 kills, and graduate outside hitter Luna Van Baars joined Beretti and Wijnbergen in the double digit kills department with 11.

Matzke, who had seven kills and no attack errors on 13 total attacks, said the Hawks’ wealth of weapons gives their opponents a lot to try to contain, and Kasavica is the catalyst for that firepower.

“It really all comes from Elena,” Matzke said. “She does a great job of seeing the other team’s block and giving it to whoever’s going, like their block was late to the pins a lot of the time, so giving it to that person so they could hit the seams. In those one-on-one situations, it really helps us get going.”

Four Hawks players — Wijnbergen, Van Baars, Pye-Blacknard, and Beretti — had double digit digs. Matzke said the Hawks’ defense was a deciding factor in their fourth straight victory and 13th win in 14 matches to begin the season.

“It all starts with the first ball,” Matzke said. “We got that where we needed it to be, then Elena did a great job of giving it to whoever was on fire at that time.”

Jones said receiving that first ball as well as avoiding the Miners’ block were crucial in enabling the Hawks to earn a much more convincing win over the Miners than in last season’s matchup. The Hawks had to rally from down two sets to one and staved off a Miners match point in the fifth set Sept. 22, 2023, in Rolla.

“We settled down on our first touch, our serve receive,” Jones said. “I think we were a lot smarter hitting tonight than the last time we played them.”

The win means a happy homecoming for Kasavica and the Hawks (13-1, 2-0 GLVC).

“We’re definitely going to celebrate it,” Kasavica said. “We’re probably going to have a party.”