HARTSVILLE, S.C. --- The Tusculum women's volleyball team earned its third sweep across the last four matches after overwhelming Coker on Friday (Oct. 6) night. TU led the contest from start to finish, never even allowing a tie.
The Pioneers (11-5, 7-2 SAC) picked up its eighth sweep of the season, blowing by the Cobras (2-13, 0-8 SAC) by scores of 25-12, 25-17, 25-15.
Coker was led by the attack of Lauren Loveday with six kills, while three other Cobras tallied a pair: Taylor Hills, Naomi Earl-Reyes, and Cheyenne Palmer. Adriana Velez dished out over half of the assists with seven, while she and MJ Hurd recorded the service aces. Hills finished with a team-best eight digs, ahead of seven by Meadow Morse. Chelsey Blume and Palmer are credited with solo blocks.
Emiah Burrowes powered the Pioneer offense with 11 kills on a .333 hitting percentage. Olivia Crowl hit a scorching .667 with seven kills on nine attempts. McKayla Willey (4), Jamianne Foster (3), Aly Freeland (3), Madison Adkins (3), Lauren Weaver (1), Amiranee Au (1), Martina Foster (1), and Christina Jackson (1) rounded out the scoring. Adkins distributed 24 assists, while Freeland (4) and Caley Sosnowski (3) landed the most aces. Jordyn Anderson, Burrowes, and Adkins added the remaining three. Freeland registered a match-high 15 digs, ahead of seven by both Sosnowski and Au. Crowl had a hand in both team blocks at the net.
Coker hit .049 as a team with 15 kills and 11 errors on 81 total attempts. Tusculum hit .292 with 35 kills, nine errors, and 89 total attacks. The Pioneers led the Cobras in assists (32-13), service aces (10-2), and digs (43-34), while the teams tied with two total blocks each.
Freeland went 2-for-5 on swings, along with eight digs, as TU held Coker to a -.032 hitting clip to start out the night. Tusculum shot out to a 6-2 advantage, aided by five miscues from the Cobras. The Pioneers kept a steady edge but made the lead insurmountable after scoring six straight points (22-11). Another Coker error followed by a Willey kill and Burrowes ace closed out the frame.
For the second consecutive set, Burrowes tallied four kills. Crowl added three strikes, while all seven of Au's digs kept the ball up in the second frame. The graduate student claimed three straight scores to put Tusculum up 8-1 to begin set two. A 7-0 run put the Pioneer lead into double-digits, forcing Coker to call its second timeout. The Cobras fought off four set-points but TU came out victorious once again.
Tusculum hit its offensive stride in set three, firing at a .462 rate. Crowl went a perfect 3-for-3, while Burrowes notched a 3-for-4 showing. The elder Foster tallied a stellar 3-for-5 in her lone set of the evening. Three of Freeland's serves also found open spacing on the court. A 4-0 start to the frame helped Tusculum cruise to the sweep. The edge shrunk to two twice but the Pioneers responded quickly. Coker was only able to string together back-to-back points twice throughout the entire set. The Pioneers closed out the match on a 6-1 spurt, finalized by a Sosnowski ace.
Tusculum has a rematch to avenge last month's loss to archrival Carson-Newman, playing host to the Eagles on Tuesday (Oct. 10) night. First serve from Pioneer Arena is scheduled for 6 p.m.
