GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Gina Coffaro
recorded 15 kills and a .609 hitting percentage to lead the
Tusculum College volleyball team to a three-set sweep over visiting
Montreat College Monday night at Pioneer Arena. It was the
regular-season finale for the Pioneers (22-10) and the final home
match for Tusculum seniors Heather MacArthur,
Kelsey Hayden and Brittney
Oblinger.
The Pioneers won the match by scores of 25-15, 25-11, 25-19. The
Cavaliers drop their record to 15-18 and have gone winless against
Tusculum in their 25 overall meetings.
Oblinger finished the match with a match-high 17 assists, five
service aces and eight digs, while MacArthur added three kills, two
aces and a match-best five blocks. Hayden posted a .385 hitting
percentage (5-0-13) in her home finale.
Allison Baumgartner and Anna
Stephenson posted six kills each, while setter
Natalie Neiman recorded a double-double with 14
assists and 10 digs for Montreat.
In the first set, the Pioneers came out sluggish as the Cavaliers
took a 9-6 lead following a Baumgartner kill. TC responded with an
8-2, including back-to-back kills by Coffaro as the Pioneers led
12-10. Tusculum wrapped up the first frame with a 9-0 run,
including three consecutive aces by freshman Peyton Colclough as TC
won 25-15.
The Pioneers never trailed for the remainder of the match. In the
second set, Colclough recorded back-to-back service aces as TC
roared out to a 15-5 advantage and would eventually win the set
25-11.
In the final set of the evening, Tusculum opened with an 11-0 lead
on Oblinger's serve which included three kills by Coffaro. Montreat
would later make a charge to cut the deficit to 23-19 following
three straight aces by Lyndsey Wall, but Coffaro
would clinch the deciding point with her 15th kill of the night as
Tusculum recorded its 10th home win of the season.
Colclough accounted for six service aces on the evening, which is
tied for the fifth-most in a three-set match in Tusculum history.
Colclough added 10 assists to her South Atlantic Conference leading
helper average.
TC's Katie Luebke finished with eight kills and a
team-best 10 digs, while rookies Megan England and
Carly Swisher posting hitting percentages of .750
(3-0-4) and .667 (4-0-6), respectively.
Tusculum will face Newberry College on Thursday in a quarterfinal
round match of the 2008 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference
Volleyball Tournament. That match is slated to begin at 2:30 p.m.
from Stanford Arena in Mars Hill, N.C.
- TC -