Saturday, August 30, 2008

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Aug. 30, 2008) - After losing the season opener to the host Pirates, the ETSU volleyball team came back strong on the second day of the ECU Tournament  to post a comeback win over High Point and a three-set win over Howard. The Bucs defeated High point in the first game, 27-25, 14-25, 17-25, 25-19, 15-13, and closed out the tournament sweeping the Bison, 25-20, 25-20, 25-20.

"To go on the road and come back 2-1 is a great start for this young team," said head coach Lindsey Devine. "Again we had good contributions from everyone on the team, and when it came time to get a ball down you could count on anyone to get it done."

The Bucs (2-1) were led by Amanda Youell (Middleburg, Fla.) who recorded a triple-double in first game tallying 13 kills, 18 assists and 13 digs. Youell let the team in assists in the second game with 15. Sophomore Whitney Cogburn (Kingsport, Tenn.) also had a good first game recording a double-double with 25 assists and 10 digs.

"We stressed in preseason about always being competitive," Devine said. "It was evident that the team took that seriously in the first game yesterday and that carried over in the comeback win against High Point. Our defense was solid, and in the long rallies we were able to come away with the point. In the second game, we served aggressively against Howard looking to get a three set win which will give us confidence to do the same in conference matches."

Offensively Lauren Baufield (Plymouth, Minn.) led ETSU with 21 kills, while Jamie Stancliff (Advance, N.C.) tallied 14 kills and seven blocks in the two matches. Freshman Jen Neice (Allen, Texas) played well from the back row collecting 41 digs on the day.

The Bucs are back in action next weekend as they head to Huntington, W. Va. for the Marshall Tournament where they will face Western Kentucky on Friday and Virginia Tech and host Marshall on Saturday. Please visit www.ETSUBucs.com for more information on ETSU volleyball or any other Buccaneer athletic team.