GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum women's volleyball team picked up its 11th sweep of the season in the Senior Night win against Catawba on Friday (Oct. 20) night.
The Pioneers (14-6, 10-3 SAC) took down the Catawba Indians (6-10, 4-8 SAC) in straight sets: 25-18, 25-19, 25-21.
Catawba was led by 11 kills from Kelcie Love off the bench, while Siena Roethler tallied 13 assists to head up the setting rotation. Devyn Berg landed the only two service aces of the night for the Indians as libero Riley Hill notched 12 digs.
For Tusculum, Emiah Burrowes finished with a match-best 12 kills, ahead of nine by Aly Freeland. Whitney Thompson went errorless in 16 swings for five kills. Rounding out the scoring was Olivia Crowl (2), Isabella Biesterfeld (2), Madison Adkins (1), Jordyn Anderson (1), Martina Foster (1), Lauren Weaver (1), and Bailey Parker (1). Adkins dished out 30 assists as the Pioneer setter. Adkins and Anderson each landed a trio of aces, while Freeland, Caley Sosnowski, and Taylor Sanders each recorded one. Sosnowski tallied a match-high 14 digs. At the net, Thompson and Adkins were each credited with two total blocks.
Catawba hit .092 as a team with 31 kills and 21 errors on 109 total attempts. Tusculum hit .212 with 35 kills, 14 errors, and 99 total attacks. The Pioneers led the Indians in assists (34-26), service aces (9-2), digs (46-45), and total blocks (6-0). TU recorded a pair of blocks in each frame.
Tusculum started out the match hot, hitting .303 in the opening set. Both Burrowes and Freeland collected four kills in the frame, while Sosnowski scooped up seven digs defensively. After dropping the first point, TU went on to score the next five, marking the only lead change of the match. Catawba responded with three of its own. The Pioneers came back with four, including back-to-back aces by Adkins, before an Indian timeout. The foes went tit-for-tat until a four-point run by the home team made the lead insurmountable. Parker closed out the frame with her lone kill.
After two early ties, Tusculum went on a 5-1 spurt, followed soon after by a 7-1 run. Leading 20-10 after a Biesterfeld kill, Catawba closed the gap with its own 7-1 rally. Freeland helped clinch the 2-0 lead with a kill and block, aided by a pair of unforced errors by the Indians and an Anderson ace. Burrowes added five kills, Thompson went 3-for-5, and Biesterfeld tallied two kills in four tries.
Freeland (4) and Burrowes (3) combined for seven of the nine team kills in set three, while the Pioneer defense held Catawba to an even hitting clip. The Indians rattled off three-straight scores to tie the frame at 8-all before a 6-1 rally gave the Pioneers a cushion. The visitors went on a 5-1 stretch, but TU responded with an identical spurt as before. Catawba tried to push the match to a fourth set, but a kill by Weaver ended the contest in three.
Tusculum becomes road warriors, spending the four contests as the visiting team. The Pioneers have a week off before the second half of their home-and-home series with UVA Wise. First serve on the 27th is scheduled for 7 p.m.
