NEWBERRY, S.C. --- The Tusculum women's volleyball team won its fifth consecutive contest on Friday (Nov. 3) night with its victory over Newberry, all via sweep. Unofficially, TU has clinched a top-four finish in the South Atlantic Conference standings, earning a home quarterfinal match to begin the league tournament.
The Pioneers (17-6, 13-3 SAC) quieted the Wolves (7-17, 5-10 SAC) by scores of 25-21, 25-18, 25-18.
Samantha Shaffer recorded a team-best 10 kills for Newberry, ahead of nine by Taylor Hall. Annie Dill dished out 28 assists, as she and Kannyn Boyd landed the service aces for the Wolves. Four players reached double-digits in digs for the home team: Hall (16), Olivia Bradley (13), Boyd (13), and Dill (10). The two blocks for Newberry were tag-teamed by Madison Watson, Margaret McMahon, Hall, and Shaffer.
Aly Freeland finished with a match-high 15 kills to power Tusculum. Emiah Burrowes (11), Martina Foster (8), Whitney Thompson (7), and Olivia Crowl (6) followed suit. Madison Adkins and Bailey Parker rounded out the scoring with two and one kills, respectively. Foster fired on a .667 hitting percentage, while Crowl went 6-for-12 on attempts. Adkins distributed 36 assists, while Burrowes, Perri Wood, and Caley Sosnowski recorded the TU aces. Freeland (16), Adkins (13), and Burrowes (10) collected double-doubles with their dig totals, joined in double-figures by Sosnowski with 15. Foster led the Pioneer defense with four block assists, just ahead of Adkins' trio.
Newberry hit .118 as a team with 32 kills and 17 errors on 144 total attempts. Tusculum hit .290 with 50 kills, eight errors, and 145 total attacks. The Pioneers led the Wolves in assists (43-32), service aces (3-2), digs (73-66), and total blocks (6-2).
The opening set was easily the most contested of the match, featuring nine ties and three lead changes between Tusculum and Newberry. However, the 17 kills on a .319 clip pushed TU ahead. The teams traded the advantage until 17-all. Wood's ace earned the Pioneers the edge that they would not relent for the remainder of the set. Her service led to a six-point spurt, in which Newberry spent both timeouts. A few miscues by the visitors closed the gap, but consecutive errors by the Wolves rounded out the frame.
Tusculum landed a match-best 18 kills in set two, with seven coming via Burrowes. With one lead change and three ties, all before either team reached seven points, TU cruised toward the middle of the frame. The Pioneers led by a high of nine (20-11) with Sosnowski back to serve, increasing the gap on a 7-1 spurt. Newberry wrangled the advantage down to five at 22-17, but a pair of late kills by Freeland clinched the 2-0 match lead.
TU never relented the lead in the final frame as Newberry was only able to force three ties. The Wolves were held to a .071 hitting percentage by the Tusculum defense, while the Pioneer middles (Foster and Crowl) went 4-for-4 and participated in both blocks. After the 3-3 tie, TU rattled off six-straight points, followed by a span in which the lead nearly doubled (20-11). Newberry did not go down without a late fight, shrinking the edge for four at 22-18. The final three scores for TU all came off of unforced errors by the Wolves.
Tusculum rounds out the road portion of the regular season on Saturday (Nov. 4) at Lenoir-Rhyne. First serve between the Pioneers and Bears is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
