GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Amanda Nugent recorded a double-double of 17 kills and 20 digs to lead the Montevallo women's volleyball team to a 3-1 win at Tusculum University Friday afternoon at Pioneer Arena. The Falcons (7-1) won by scores of 14-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-19 for UM's fifth straight victory. The match was held in conjunction with the Pioneer Classic.
Montevallo's Brie Blue accounted for a double-double of her own with 10 kills, 14 digs and two service aces. Harley Masoner added 21 assists and nine digs, while Michaela Henderson posted a match-high 27 digs in the victory.
Tusculum senior Cassie Born tallied 15 kills and 17 digs, while Gabby Gray recorded 13 kills and a .293 hitting percentage. Setter Alyssa Rojas led all players with 37 assists to go along with her 15 digs. Senior Melissa Mazur tallied 26 digs to go along with her two service aces while Nevena Pejovic came up with a dozen digs for the Pioneers (2-3).
The Falcons overcame a sluggish start as Tusculum won the opening frame 25-14. TU hit .200 as team while limiting UM to a minus .062 hitting percentage which included 10 attack errors. The Pioneers led wire-to-wire and closed out the stanza with a 4-0 run including a Born service ace on set-point.
Tusculum maintained the momentum in the second set, jumping out to an 11-7 lead after a Gray kill. The Falcons answered with a 12-1 run including a string of nine consecutive points as UM led 19-12. Trailing 24-15, the Pioneers fought off set-point five times, but Blume recorded a kill to end the frame at 25-20 to even the match at one set apiece.
In the third set, TU seized the early lead and led 12-10 following another kill from Gray. But the Falcons captured the momentum again and scored nine straight points to take a 19-12 advantage en route to taking the set 25-20 and a 2-1 lead in the contest.
The fourth set saw eight ties and four lead changes in the first half of the frame. With the score knotted at 12-12, Montevallo went on an 8-2 spurt to take a 20-14 lead thanks to back-to-back kills from Brioni Dixon. TU trimmed the deficit to 22-18, but that would be as close as the Pioneers would get as UM won the match on a consecutive kills from Nugent.
Tusculum out-hit Montevallo as the Pioneers posted a .147 hitting percentage while the Falcons mustered a .125 attack effort. The two teams tied in assists with 43 each while the Pioneers edged the visitors in digs by an 87-83 margin.
The two teams return to action on Saturday. Montevallo will twice facing Georgia College at noon followed by a 2 p.m. match against Lincoln Memorial. Tusculum will wrap up the weekend's action at 4 p.m. for a regional bout with Georgia College.
