HENDERSON, Nev. - The Vegas Thrill (8-14) lost to the Columbus Fury (7-15) for the third time this season in straight sets (20-25, 23-25, 21-25) on Sunday night at Lee's Family Forum. Columbus is now 5-2 all-time against Vegas.
Set One
Columbus went on a solid 4-0 run to begin the match before Vegas called a timeout. The Fury continued their run by going up 7-0 before Hannah Maddux notched a block. Maddux would go on to score the next two points off a service ace and a kill to make it a five-point deficit, 7-3. A pair of Vegas points cut the deficit to two, 9-7, and Willow Johnson's kill after a long rally put the score at 10-8 Fury. The Thrill tied the set at 11-11 thanks to an Adora Anae kill, a Berkeley Oblad block and a Columbus attack error. The Fuery went into the media timeout up 16-15 and would score three straight points on a Vegas attack error and a Morgan Lewis block. Columbus would score four of the next five points for a 20-16 lead. A five-point Fury advantage, 22-17, was all they needed as they prevailed to win the set, 25-20. Izabella Rapacz led the Fury with five kills and three digs.
Set Two
Both teams traded points to begin the second set as the set was tied, 3-3. Janice Leo of the Fury broke the tie with a service ace and Camryn Hannah of Vegas put a stop to that with a kill to tie it up, 4-4. Maddux recorded back-to-back kills for a 6-6 tie and then posted a stellar service ace to take a 7-6 advantage. Anae put the Thrill up 8-7 with her fifth kill of the match before Columbus called a timeout. An Anae kill and then a block put the Thrill up 10-9. The Fury would then score two straight points for an 11-10 cushion. Hannah crushed her third kill of the match to tie it up, 11-11. Oblad put the Thrill up 14-13 with her third kill of the match, but Columbus' Rapacz tied it up with a kill. Vegas went into the media timeout up 16-14 after a pair of Fury attack errors. Columbus would then storm back to notch three straight points for a 17-16 lead as Vegas was forced to call a timeout. Oblad put a stop to Columbus' run with a kill that tied the set, 17-17. The Fury stormed through for a 22-19 lead and they would ultimately win the set, 25-23. Rapacz shined again with another five-kill set.
Set Three
Vegas and Columbus traded their first two points of the set before Lauren Jardine of the Thrill posted a service ace. Oblad would then record a block and Jardine's kill put Vegas up 5-3 The Fury went on a 3-0 run to go up 6-5 before Oblad's sixth kill of the match tied the set, 6-6. Columbus' Abby Walker and Megan Courtney-Lush recorded two straight kills to put them up 8-6. Layne Van Buskirk of Vegas tied the set, 10-10, and Anae's service ace put them up 11-10. Raina Terry of Columbus posted a clutch service ace to put them up 15-12, but Maddux's 11th kill of the match cut the Vegas deficit to a pair, 15-13. Oblad's block and Anae's kill cut the Vegas deficit to just one, 16-15. Two straight Fury points upped their lead to three, 21-18 and they carried their momentum the rest of the way for a 25-21 set three win and a sweep.
Key Stats Columbus was led by Rapacz's 15 kills, seven digs and one solo block for a .519 hitting percentage. Nootsara Tomkom tallied 25 assists and nine digs, while Terry put together 10 kills, four digs, one assist and one solo block. Vegas' Hannah Maddux posted 12 kills, seven digs, two service aces and one solo block, while Anae also recorded 12 kills on four digs, one solo block, one assist and one service ace. Alisha Childress posted her 14th double-double of the season with 36 assists and 18 digs. Libero Teagan DeFalco played all three sets where she notched nine digs on two assists.
NEXT FOR THE THRILL: Vegas will hit the road for a pair of matches, beginning with the Indy Ignite on Thursday, April 17 at 7 p.m. ET on the Roku Channel.