Sept. 19, 2008
Box Score
KENNESAW, Ga.--On a night when several Owls had season and career highs, junior Chelsey Denesha had 18 kills and 14 digs to lead Kennesaw State to a 3-2 (14-25, 25-18, 25-21, 15-25, 15-9) victory over Stetson on Friday night at the KSU Convocation Center in an Atlantic Sun Conference match.
"I'm really glad that we stepped up to the plate tonight," said KSU head coach Valerie Jones. "Sometimes opportunity presents itself in ways that you don't expect. We had several people step up into new roles tonight and everyone really came to play."
Denesha had 18 kills and four errors in 31 attacks for a .452 attack percentage. The junior also had 14 digs, second-best on the squad behind a career-high 21 for Eman Burns. Burns became just the third player in KSU volleyball history to reach the 20-dig mark and finished with the second-most digs in KSU's brief volleyball history.
Sabrita Gulley matched her season and career-high with 16 kills. Freshman Rachael Albright had 44 assists for a career-best total. Combined largely in part with Ginny Frederick's 14 assists, the Owls finished with 64 assists in the match, compared to just 37 for the Hatters (1-8, 0-3 A-Sun).
In a match with numerous ebbs and flows, Stetson scored 15 of the last 19 points of the first set to go from a 10-10 tie to a 25-14 victory in the opener. The second set would be different as the Owls used an 8-2 run to take a 20-13 lead. The lead would hold, as junior Asjia Stokes sent home an attack to give KSU (2-9, 1-3 A-Sun) the second set, 25-18.
In a contentious third set, the Owls rallied from an early 8-5 hole to take a brief 9-8 lead. Stetson opened up a two-point lead, 11-9, but the lead would be short lived as the Owls tied the match again, 11-all. After the teams traded points, KSU scored the next three points, with two coming on service aces by Paris Leonce to give the Owls a 15-12 lead. KSU fought to extend the lead to four, 18-14, after consecutive errors for the Hatters, sending Stetson into a timeout. The Owls dropped the next two points, but when Denesha's attack dropped to the floor of the block, the Owls led 19-16 and the Hatters started to unravel. A kill by Gulley and an attack error by the Hatters pushed the lead to five and Hatters asked for time again.
The Hatters would fight off three set points, but Stokes again put home the set-clinching attack, giving the Owls a 25-21 win.
The fourth set would be a different story, as the Hatters had 13 kills to just one error, hitting .480 as a team to take a 25-15 win in the set and even the match at two sets a piece.
In the finale, it was the Owls that came out firing on all cylinders. The Black and Gold earned 12 points off kills with just one error recorded against the home team. KSU jumped out to an 11-6 lead, fueled by kills by Gulley and Callie Churchwell. Stetson scored the next two points to trim the lead to three and KSU asked for time up 11-8. After the timeout, Gulley powered home another attack to extend the lead to four. Churchwell then followed with a solo block to give the Owls a five-point lead. Stetson scored the next point, but Gulley's 16th kill of the match gave the Owls match point. One chance would be all KSU would need, as Churchwell blocked Stetson's final attack of the night, giving the Owls a 15-9 win in the final set.
Churchwell finished with nine kills and seven total blocks. Sophomore Paris Leonce recorded her first career double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs. Stokes finished with 13 kills, her best total of the season.
The task will get tougher for the Owls tomorrow as Kennesaw State hosts Florida Gulf Coast. Match time is set for 3:30 p.m.
