The Tusculum College volleyball team won its fifth consecutive
match with a 3-0 victory over Queens University Saturday afternoon
in South Atlantic Conference action. Set scores were 25-18, 25-20
and 25-19.
Freshman Rachel Garnett had 13 kills on 23 attacks to lead the
Pioneers (17-7, 12-5 SAC), who moved into sole possession of second
place in the conference standings with five matches remaining in
the regular season.
Fellow freshman Jaida Allen added a season-high eight kills and hit
.615 in the match for the Pioneers, who hit .274 as a team while
holding the Royals (10-10, 9-8 SAC) to a .134 hitting percentage
for the afternoon. Anna Gibbs led Queens with 15 kills, while
Taylor Riley had 31 assists and Jocelyn Kellinger had 12 digs for
the Royals.
Megan Hasse added seven kills and nine digs for the Pioneers, who
received a match-high 17 digs from Caitlyn Dean and 12 from Hannah
Berling. Berling also handed out 19 assists for the Pioneers while
Ashley Sarmiento had 13 assists.
Tusculum never trailed in the first set, using a 5-0 run to take a
19-13 lead after Queens had pulled within a point at 14-13. Kassie
Voelker led the Pioneers with three kills and two blocks in the
set, while Garnett had three kills as the Pioneers hit .269 as a
team.
In the second set, the Pioneers rattled off four unanswered points
to take an early 7-3 lead, only to see the Royals creep within
12-11 on a kill by Gibbs. Tusculum responded with eight of the next
11 points to go ahead 20-14 on a Garnett kill. Garnett and Allen
each had four kills for the Pioneers while Dean had six digs and
Berling added five.
Queens finally took its first lead of the match at the start of the
third set, scoring four straight points to jump ahead 4-0. Tusculum
came back to take a 6-5 lead thanks to three straight errors from
Queens, and the Pioneers took the lead for good with a 6-0 run to
erase a 12-11 Royals advantage. Garnett had six kills on nine
attacks during the set for the Pioneers, who extended the surge to
10-1 to go on top 21-13 in the final set.
Tusculum returns to Pioneer Arena on Friday night against Newberry
beginning at 7 p.m. The Pioneers will honor Dean, Voelker and
Sarmiento prior to the match as part of Senior Night
festivities.
