HENDERSON, Nev. - The Vegas Thrill (5-2) began its two match home stand with a reverse sweep (18-25, 21-25, 25-22, 25-12, 15-9) against the Indy Ignite (3-2) on Friday night at the Lee's Family Forum. Vegas has now posted three reverse sweeps this season, all on Friday's, and now sit first in the PVF standings.
Set 1
The start of set one saw both teams go back-and-forth trading points. Vegas took a 7-6 lead before Indy took its first lead since being up 4-3 with a 4-0 run, upping the score to 11-8. Vegas cut the deficit to two, 14-12, with a key kill from middle blocker Berkeley Oblad. The Ignite regained a four-point cushion with a 16-12 lead as the Thrill was forced to call a timeout. The Ignite earned their largest lead of the set, 20-14, but the Thrill scored three straight points to cut the deficit to three. Indy came through with a 25-18 set one victory and their seven point lead was the Ignite's largest of the set. Indy held Vegas to a .086 hitting percentage while the Ignite hit .290 overall. The first set was a defensive battle with Indy collecting six solo blocks and 14 digs, with Indy setter Sydney Hill and opposite hitter Azhani Tealer earning a pair of blocks apiece.
Set 2
Indy's momentum from set one carried over to set two as they collected a five-point lead, 9-4. A couple of Vegas errors led to Indy going up by as much as eight, eventually collecting a 15-7 lead. After Vegas middle blocker Morgan Stout entered the match for the first time, the Thrill went on a 2-0 run to cut the deficit to six, 16-10, before a media timeout was called. Vegas' Lauren Jardine also entered the match for the first time and collected back-to-back kills to cut the deficit to three, 16-13. The Thrill kept it a close one after they scored two straight points and called a timeout down 20-17. The Ignite prevailed and took set two, 25-21, as Indy outside hitter Leketor Member-Meneh tallied five kills and added three digs and two solo blocks. Vegas' offensive struggles continued as they hit just .196 overall and committed four errors, including four service errors.
Set 3
The Thrill got off to a hot start in the third set with a 3-0 lead after a block from Stout and Hannah Maddux along with a Camryn Hannah kill. The lead grew even more for the Thrill after a Maddux kill to push the score to 7-2. Maddux was red hot from the start of the set as she collected another kill to keep Vegas up by five, 13-8. Indy was then forced to call a timeout after an attack error put the Thrill up 14-8. Hannah notched her 11th kill of the match to put the Thrill up 15-9, and earned her 12th kill to put them up 16-10 after a media timeout. Vegas' largest lead grew even more after a Charitie Luper kill to put the score at 19-12. Indy went on a 4-0 run to cut the deficit to three and made it a two-point game, 20-18. After three straight points put Vegas up 23-18, they prevailed by winning the set, 25-22. Hannah tallied seven kills Alisha Childress posted 10 assists and six digs. The Thrill put up a .270 hitting percentage and held the Ignite to a .111 clip.
Set 4
Vegas kept their momentum alive in the fourth set as they went on a solid 5-1 run, forcing Indy to call a timeout. The Thrill earned their largest lead of the match, 10-2, and the Ignite was forced to call another timeout. A key challenge that went Vegas' way put them up by 10, 14-5, and was up 16-6 after a media timeout. Maddux and Luper delivered with back-to-back kills to put them up 20-8 and they never looked back. Childress put the Thrill up 22-11 with a solo block, her second of the match, and the Thrill took care of business winning set four, 25-12. Maddux posted six kills and two digs and the Thrill hit .364 overall.
Set 5
Maddux started off set five with her 15th kill of the match and Oblad put Vegas up 5-2 with her seventh kill of the match. Oblad notched a stellar block to put the Thrill up 7-2. The Thrill went up 8-5 after a Luper kill as both teams then switched sides. Stout notched a big-time block for an 11-8 lead and after the Thrill went up 13-9, the scored the final two points for the reverse sweep.
Key Stats
The Thrill were led by outside hitter Camryn Hannah's 16 kills, five digs and one block to go with a .389 hitting percentage. Alisha Childress posted 44 assists on 12 digs with three solo blocks. Hannah Maddux tallied 15 kills, eight digs and two solo blocks along with a service ace. Libero Mary Shroll posted a season-high 10 digs, while Berkeley Oblad recorded seven kills, four digs, three solo blocks and two assists. The Indy were paced by outside hitter Leketor Member-Meneh's 12 kills and 12 digs along with setter Sydney Hill's match-high 51 assists and 15 digs.
NEXT FOR THE THRILL: The Thrill will face the Atlanta Vibe for the third time this season and second time at home on Sunday at 5 p.m. PT.