North Carolina Central drops tight battle to Elon
DURHAM, N.C. – A total of 30 ties and 11 lead changes were exchanged as the North Carolina Central University volleyball squad suffered a 3-0 (25-21, 28-26, 26-24) setback while playing host to the Elon Phoenix on Tuesday, Sept. 23, inside McDougald-McLendon Gymnasium.
Sophomore Kelsey Murphy finished the night with a career-best four service aces while also collecting her second double-double of the season with 10 kills and 11 digs.
After Elon scored the opening three points of the first set, the Eagles took a 6-1 run, led by two Denni Johnson service aces, to give them the two point advantage and forcing a Phoenix timeout.
The two teams swapped points back-and-forth for the remainder of the set, until a kill from senior Da’sha Brown gave NCCU the 20-19 lead late in the game.
Elon head coach Mary Tendler used her final timeout of the set before the Phoenix used a 6-1 run to close the match, earning the 25-21 victory.
The second set saw a total of 19 ties before Elon took a late 24-21 lead over NCCU.
With match-point in favor of the Phoenix, the Eagles converted back-to-back Elon errors into points, and tied the set at 24 after a double block from junior Kelly Rossip and Murphy.
The Phoenix, regained their momentum, finishing out the set with the 28-26 triumph.
After exchanging points early on during the third set, NCCU pulled away with an early four-point lead over Elon after a Brown kill set the score at 8-4.
The Eagles maintained their advantage and offensive momentum for the majority of the game until the Phoenix rallied a late 3-1 run after a NCCU timeout, knotting the set at 21.
After one more tie at 24, Elon closed the third and final set with a 26-24 victory.
In addition to Murphy’s 10 kills, Brown finished with a team-best 12 on the night while Johnson tallied six and rookie Paige Phillips earned 26 assists.
Defensively, junior Marilyn Sherbondy added 13 digs to Murphy’s 11 and senior Ashley McCarthy collected a game-high five blocks.
NCCU returns to action on Friday, Sept. 26 as the Eagles open Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference action on the road, taking on the rival Aggies from North Carolina A&T in Greensboro, N.C., at 7 p.m.
For complete story, visit www.nccueaglepride.com
Savannah State Drops Road Match To Charleston Southern
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Savannah State volleyball team made the quick trip to Charleston, S.C. on Tuesday to face off against regional rival Charleston Southern in the first of two matches scheduled this season.
The Lady Tigers fell in straight sets to the Lady Bucs, but not without some fight. Historically, SSU is winless against the Lady Bucs, falling to 0-22 in the record books in this decade.
As the Lady Tigers, under new head coach Jolanta Graham, continue to build the program progress is evident in the details of the statistics.
When SSU took on Charleston Southern last year they fell in straight sets, and the highest amount of points they managed to score was 13 in the second set.
In the opening set of Tuesday’s game, SSU looked to be repeating last year’s loss as the Lady Bucs’ cruised to a 25-10 victory.
Into the second set, however, the Lady Tigers opened a 3-0 run on kills from newcomer Zariya Thomas that cut the Lady Bucs’ lead to 6-5. A few minutes later, kills from Gabrielle Nathaniel and Justice Dilworth cut CSU’s lead to 10-7 and kept SSU in the fight.
The Lady Bucs were unfazed as they extended their lead to 13-8 with three straight kills from Siraya Windsor.
Later, SSU trailed 12-16 and cut that lead down to two points with back-to-back kills from Thomas on sets from Caitlynn Masoe. Two costly SSU errors again widen the scoring gap, forcing SSU to take a timeout.
CSU was leading 21-16 as Thomas served up two points on attack errors from Windsor, forcing the home team to take a timeout.
A service error from Meredith Parrott moved SSU to a four point deficient at 19-23. Nathaniel then served up two points, with attack errors from Windsor, to move SSU to within two points of the home team’s lead, 21-23.
Windsor rebounded with a kill for the set point, forcing the Lady Tigers to take pause. Out of the timeout, SSU newcomer Elexius Harris recorded a kill to keep the set alive, but an attack error from the Lady Tigers sealed up the 25-22 win for CSU.
Thomas led the Lady Tigers in the hard fought set with five kills. Windsor registered six kills, as the Lady Bucs led 2-0 into the final set.
Charleston Southern opened the third set with an 8-3 run, but SSU bounced back into the game with a 4-0 run on three straight service points from Nathaniel that cut the home team’s lead to 8-7.
The Lady Bucs pushed back out to a 13-8 lead, moments later and looked to be gaining all their momentum back. Dilworth then opened a 3-0 run with a service ace. SSU cut the home team’s lead to 16-13.
Out of a timeout, Windsor served up two points to lift CSU to a 20-14 lead. Down the final stretch, the Lady Bucs took advantage of several SSU errors for a 25-17 set win and the sixth match win of the season.
Thomas led the Lady Tigers with six kills in the match. Alexis Washington led in digs with 11. Parrott led the Lady Bucs with 10 kills, while Taylor Allman led in digs with 14.
SSU falls to 3-11 on the season. They open Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) play this weekend in Florida, beginning in Tallahassee at Florida A&M on Friday. They continue on Sunday with a match against Bethune-Cookman in Daytona.
For complete story, visit www.ssuathletics.com