Friday, October 10, 2003

Greensboro, N.C. (October 10, 2003) -- In a thrilling five-game match, the East Tennessee State volleyball team edged UNC Greensboro, 3-2, Friday night in Fleming Gym. With the loss, UNCG moves to 6-12 overall and 2-4 in the SoCon, while ETSU improves to 4-14 on the season, 2-4 in conference play. UNCG opened the match strong with a 4-0 lead which they then extended to 10-4 on an assisted block by LaJean Morrow and Abbi Meyer. ETSU slowly creeped back into the game, eventually taking the lead at 13-12 after a kill from freshman Jennifer Sartor (Toronto, Ontario). Lauren Richards then put the Spartans back in front, 17-16, on back-to-back aces. The Buccaneers would rally, however, to regain the lead, 24-23 en route to the 30-28 game one victory. The Spartans rallied to take game two, 30-24. UNCG jumped out to an early lead, 9-5, following consecutive aces from Morrow. A kill by ETSU's Kelsey Sherich (Ogallala, Neb.) closed the gap to 13-9, but UNCG responded with kills from Hilary Overby and Kim Dayton to push the lead to 15-9. An ace by Lauren Richards gave the Spartans game point and a kill from Dayton finished off the Buccaneers. After dropping game three, 30-25, UNCG took game four, 30-27, forcing the deciding fifth game. In game four, ETSU was the team to jump out to an early 7-5 lead following a kill from Lissa Allen (Palm Bay, Fla.). The Spartans then rallied to take the advantage, 13-12, after a Richards kill before pushing the lead to 20-17 on an Overby smash. Overby maintained the hot-hand for UNCG closing game four with a thunderous kill. In the deciding fifth game, the two teams traded points with ETSU taking an early 5-4 lead. UNCG knotted the score at 7-7, but the Buccaneers regained the advantage at 8-7 following a Andrea Piercy (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) kill. From that point, the Buccaneers managed to hang on to take the game, 15-10, and the match, 3-2. Overby led UNCG with a career-high 21 kills. Morrow and Dayton chipped in with 13 and 10 kills, respectively, while Richards registered nine kills and 11 total blocks. Adrian Hicks paced the Spartan attack with 53 assists. Karen Freeburg (New Castle, Ind.) led the Buccaneers with 16 kills and 26 digs. Piercy added 14 kills, while Kristi Robinson (Knoxville, Tenn.) tallied 65 assists. ETSU will now travel to Elon for a 2 p.m. match on Saturday. The Buccaneers will return home to face Furman on Wednesday, Oct. 15. The match will start at 7 p.m. in Brooks Gym.