Oct. 18, 2008
Box Score
KENNESAW, Ga.--Junior Sabrita Gulley had 11 kills and a .667 attack percentage as the Kennesaw State volleyball team hit .406 for the match in a 3-0 (25-18, 27-25, 25-22) sweep of East Tennessee State on Saturday afternoon at the KSU Convocation Center. The win gives the Owls their first sweep of an Atlantic Sun Conference weekend in program history.
"We showed a lot of determination on the court today," said KSU head coach Valerie Jones. "Our hard work as a team is finally getting rewarded with results. This was a very big win for us as a program."
The Owls (4-17, 3-10 A-Sun) jumped on top early in the first set and never let up, winning 25-18. The second set was much different as KSU faced four set points, down 24-20. An ETSU service error gave the Owls hope. Two ETSU attack errors brought the Owls within a point, 24-23, and ETSU asked for timeout.
Off the timeout, junior Chelsey Denesha's floating serve down the line was mishandled by the Bucs for a service ace, knotting the score at 24-all. ETSU (7-13, 4-8) took the next point, but a bad serve by the Bucs tied the set again at 25-25. Gulley came through with a kill on the next point and when Rachael Albright's serve was mishandled by the Bucs, KSU had completed the comeback, taking the second set 25-22.
With tension building, the Owls fell behind 3-0 in the third set. But after an attack error by the Bucs, junior Asjia Stokes served five consecutive points to put KSU ahead 6-3. The lead would extend to five at 11-6 after a Denesha kill, an Albright ace, and a kill for Gulley, forcing ETSU into a timeout.
ETSU would tie the set up at 12-all and at 13-all, but that would be as close as the visitors would come for the rest of the match. A 4-0 spurt sparked by a pair of KSU blocks put KSU back up by four, 17-13. Every time ETSU would whittle the lead down to two, the Owls would extend the lead back up. KSU earned match point after a kill by Paris Leonce made the score 24-21. ETSU would fight off the first match point, but the final serve of the match for the Bucs crashed into the net, touching off a celebration for the Black and Gold.
The Owls had five blocks on the afternoon, led by Dehesna's four block assists. Setter Ginny Frederick had 18 assists, three kills and a block solo. Callie Churchwell didn't make an error in 12 attempts, recording five kills, while Stokes and Leonce each had six successful attacks.
KSU will be off until next Friday when it travels to Buies Creek, N.C., for its only A-Sun match of the week, taking on Campbell. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m.
