GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Cassie Born recorded a double-double with 14 kills and 13 digs in leading the Tusculum College volleyball team to a 3-0 sweep over Catawba College in South Atlantic Conference action at Pioneer Arena. The Pioneers won the match by scores of 25-22, 25-20 and 25-11.
Tusculum (6-4, 3-3 SAC) posted a .314 hitting percentage, while limiting the Catawba Indians (4-7, 3-4 SAC) to a .076 attack percentage.
TC senior Rachel Garnett finished with 10 kills with zero errors in 19 total attempts for a sizzling .526 hitting percentage. Shannon Murphy dished out 21 assists to go along with her nine digs, while Hallie Zumack posted 11 assists and two digs. Tusculum's Melissa Mazur added 14 digs and three assists in the victory.
The Catawba trio of Alex Hopper, Audrey Hoffman and Allison Benton all tallied eight kills apiece, while setter Rachel Stanford dished out 29 assists to go along with her five digs.
Catawba came out of the gate on fire in the first set and raced to an 18-12 advantage. But the Pioneers shook off the sluggish start and rattled off a 10-2 to take a 22-20 lead following a kill by Born. A kill by Hopper trimmed the TC lead to 22-21, but the Pioneers got a two more kills from Born to win the first set 25-22.
In the second set, trailing 7-6, the Pioneers got a 7-2 spurt to lead 13-8 sparked by kills from Laryssa Welch, Sarah Bouley and Garnett. TC extended the lead to 19-12thanks to a Garnett kill and a Welch service ace. Catawba would trim the deficit to 21-18, but the Pioneers would prevail 25-20.
Tusculum posted a .444 hitting percentage in the final set, while Catawba hit for a minus-.121 as TC ran off to a 25-11 win to complete the sweep. Garnett recorded five kills in her five total attempts in the last frame, while Born accounted for four kills and three digs.
Tusculum finished the match with 53 digs and four blocks, while Catawba tallied 50 digs and two total blocks.
The Pioneers return to action on Tuesday as they make the short trip to Jefferson City to face arch-rival Carson-Newman University for a 7 p.m. match at Holt Fieldhouse.
