Tuesday, September 13
Troy Falls to UAB in Heartbreaker
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – The Troy volleyball team fell to UAB, 3-2, in five sets on Tuesday night at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Ala.
After falling in the first set 25-21, the Trojans (6-5) bounced back and won the next two games 25-19 and 25-21. Troy went on a 7-1 run to begin the third set and didn’t look back to go up two sets to one.
UAB (7-5) won the fourth set 25-20 and recorded 16 kills and a .270 hitting percentage. The Blazers continued their success in the fifth set. Troy took an early 2-0 lead in the set with a Symone Shaw kill and a Blazer attack error, but UAB went on a run and clinched the match with a 15-12 fifth set victory.
QUOTABLE
“I’m really proud of our team,” Sonny Kirkpatrick said. “It was by far the best we’ve played all year. UAB’s a good team and they are well coached. It’s been a long time since we played this well on the road against a good team. I’m really looking forward to getting back at it this weekend.”
PLAYER OF THE GAME
After recording a new career-high 18 kills one match ago against Savannah State, Sara Landis one-upped that accolade with a career-high 19 kills in Tuesday’s match.
TURNING POINT
UAB went up 9-5 in the fifth set after going on a 6-2 run when the match was tied 3-3. The Trojans battled back and cut it to a one point deficit four different times, but never regained the lead.
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
With her 19 kills against the Blazers, Sara Landis has picked up back-to-back double-digit kills for the third time in her career. However, the 37 combined kills is the most she has recorded in back-to-back games in her career. She did it twice in 2015, the first time was against Georgia State and South Alabama, where she had 25 combined kills and the second was against ULM and UL Lafayette, where she had 24.
A-State Volleyball Suffers 3-1 Loss to Missouri State
JONESBORO, Ark. (9/13/16) – The Arkansas State volleyball squad dropped a 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 22-25, 20-25) decision to Missouri State Tuesday night in non-conference action at the Convocation Center.
The Red Wolves (6-5) got an 18-kill performance from Carlisa May, while Brentlee Weaver registered 15 kills on a .379 hitting percentage. Mallory Warrington dished out 46 assists and Markie Schaedig led the team defensively with 21 digs. Anna Murphy led A-State with four blocks. Missouri State (8-3) was led by Lily Johnson’s 19 kills.
“Missouri State is a very, very good team,” A-State head volleyball coach David Rehr said. “I knew it was going to be a fight. I’m proud of how we fought though, but we haven’t had our starting lineup yet this year. We’ve played some tough teams and I’m proud of how we’ve competed with them.”
A-State went on a 6-0 run in set one after falling behind 3-0 to force a Missouri State timeout, but the timeout cooled the Red Wolves off. The Bears went ahead 20-16 with A-State coming within 20-19 to force MSU to take its final timeout of the set. The two teams found themselves knotted at 23-23, but two straight points by the visitors gave Missouri State a 25-23 win.
The two squads battled to a 12-12 tie in set two before a 5-1 A-State run put the home team on top 17-13. Missouri State called a timeout, but it did little to slow down the Red Wolves as the team had set point at 24-16 after a Kenzie Fields score. The Bears made a little run to cut it to 24-19, but a Murphy kill gave A-State a 25-19 win to even the score.
The third set appeared to be in Arkansas State’s control as the team was out front 19-16 before a Missouri State timeout. However, a 4-0 Bears’ run put the visitors in front by one. A-State battled to within one point again at 23-22, but a service error and attack error clinched the set for Missouri State. The Red Wolves never led in set four, but the game was tied 11-11 before a 10-5 run put the Bears ahead 21-16. MSU went on to close out the set 25-20 and win the match 3-1.
A-State returns to action Friday, Sept. 16 in the Hoosier Classic in Bloomington, Ind., against the host team Indiana. First serve is set for 6 p.m. (CT). Fans can follow the team on Twitter (@stAteVolleyball) and Instagram (astatevolleyball) along with liking the Arkansas State University Volleyball page on Facebook for the latest news and updates regarding the team.
ULM Falls in Home Opener
Monroe, La. – The ULM volleyball team took a tough 3-0 loss to Southern Miss in the home opener for the Warhawks inside Fant-Ewing Coliseum Tuesday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED
-The Eagles took an early lead in set one. The Warhawks stayed close and tied things up at eight but, Southern Miss had hit their stride, regained the lead and followed it to a set one win.
-In set two, Southern Miss picked up a quick 6-1 lead that ULM was unable to make up.
-The Warhawks stepped back onto the court in set three fighting to extend the match past three sets. However, after a seven point run from the Eagles, the Warhawks trailed for the remainder of the match.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
-Mikaela Worley led the Warhawk offense with nine kills.
-Tara Jenkins fed the ULM offense with 16 assists in the match.
-Kacey LeBlanc led the defense with 10 digs.
-ULM had its highest total of kills in a set in set one (10).
-ULM had its highest hitting percentage in set one (0.097).
TEXAS STATE FALLS IN FIVE SETS AT TEXAS A&M CORPUS CHRISTI
CORPUS CHRISIT, Texas – Texas State University volleyball suffered a 3-2 setback to Texas A&M Corpus Christi Tuesday evening at the Islanders’ Dugan Wellness Center. Texas State won the first and fourth set, 25-21 and 25-20, respectively, but the Islanders took sets two (25-18), three (25-17) and five (15-6) to secure the win.
The Islanders improve to 5-4 with the win, while Texas State falls to 6-6.
Texas State finished the match hitting .137 to TAMCC’s .223. The Islanders registered 57 kills to the Bobcats’ 56, while also posting advantages in blocks (16-6) and digs (81-72).
Megan Porter led three Bobcats with 14 kills, while Jordan Kohl (12) and Lauren Kirch (10) each reached double-figures. Kirch also posted a team-high .490 hitting percentage. Defensively, Texas State used a team effort as three student-athletes had 10-plus digs with Ali Silver leading the team with 16.
Brittany Gilpin led the Islanders with 15 kill, while Morgan Williams led the squad with a hitting percentage of .421.
Porter and Kohl led the Bobcats to a 25-21 victory in the first set as both registered four kills. Texas State took a 19-12 lead on a Shelby Vas Matt kill, but had to withstand a furious Islander comeback attempt before securing the set victory on an Islander service error.
TAMCC jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in set two before the Bobcats were able to knot the score at 11-11. However, points by Williams and Gilpin along with a Bobcat error provided the home standing Islanders the momentum they would need to secure the 25-18 set victory and knot the match 1-1.
The third set played as a close affair featuring eight ties and five lead changes in the first 24 points, leaving the sided tied 12-12. TAMCC then reeled off an 9-1 run for a 21-13 lead and forced a Texas State timeout. The Bobcats scored the next three points out of the break, but TAMCC four of the final points for the 25-17 set win and the 2-1 match advantage.
Texas State took the early advantage in the fourth set, but TAMCC rallied to tie the score 14-14. The Bobcats stymied the Islanders momentum with the next two points via TAMCC errors and hung on the rest of the way to even the match 2-2 with a 25-20 set win.
The fifth set was all Texas A&M Corpus Christi as the Islanders took a service error for the first point to win seven of the next 10 points for a 7-4 lead. The Bobcats would get no closer than two the rest of the way as the Islanders went on for a decisive 15-6 set triumph and a 3-2 match win.
Texas State closes out the nonconference portion of its 2016 schedule Thursday and Friday at the UTSA-hosted Roadrunner Roundup. The Bobcats face Texas Tech and UTSA on Thursday at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively, before closing the tournament Friday against Wichita State at 3 p.m.
North Florida Handless Georgia Southern, 3-1
STATESBORO, Ga. – Morgan Van Alstine led four Ospreys in double-figure kills with 15 and added five blocks as North Florida dealt Georgia Southern a 3-1 (25-20, 25-19, 22-25, 25-16) volleyball defeat in Hanner Fieldhouse Tuesday night.
Katie Bange led Georgia Southern with 10 kills, 15 assists, six digs and three blocks, and Alex Beecher tallied 24 digs and five assists.
Carinne Turner recorded 13 kills and 12 digs for North Florida (8-4), while Gabby O’Connell added 12 kills and nine digs. Katarina Raicevic had 12 kills, and Kimberly Ferguson posted a match-high 26 digs.
It was the second straight home loss for the Eagles (6-6), who won their first six matches in Hanner Fieldhouse this season.
The story
North Florida wasn’t flashy but beat the Eagles in almost every statistical category. They out-hit the Eagles .255 to .146 and had the edge in digs, blocks and service aces.
Trailing 16-14 in the first set, North Florida capped the frame with a 9-4 run, and the Ospreys never trailed in the second set while taking a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Eagles scored three straight points to break a 17-17 tie in the third and went on to win the set 25-22, but North Florida broke an 11-11 tie in the fourth with a an 11-1 spurt to open a 10-point lead. Seven points came on the serve of Turner, who served two aces during the stretch.