By: by Jason Hanes
Box Score
KENNESAW, Ga. - Kennesaw State's volleyball team battled Lipscomb early, but the Bisons dominated late, sweeping the Owls 3-0 (25-23, 25-12, 25-17) on Friday night at the KSU Convocation Center in Atlantic Sun Conference play. The Bisons improved to 12-0 in A-Sun play with the win.
"Lipscomb is the class of our conference this year and they continue to prove it every night," said KSU head coach
Karen Weatherington. "I'm proud of the fight that we had in the first set, but we struggled to make the plays we needed to make the longer the match went."
The Owls (10-9, 5-7) put a scare into the Bisons in the first set, as KSU stayed within four points for the entire set. Trailing 23-20, the Owls got two kills from
Chelsey Denesha and a kill from
Asjia Stokes to tie the set, 23-23, and send the Bisons into a timeout. Off the timeout, a kill and a solo block by reigning A-Sun Player of the Week Alex Kelly lifted the visitors to a 25-23 win.
The only tie score in the second set came at 1-1, as the Bisons (17-3, 12-0) went on an 8-2 run to take a 9-3 lead before Coach Weatherington asked for her first timeout of the set. The Bisons would stretch the lead to 10, 15-5, before the Owls asked for time again. Down 17-9, KSU went on a mini three-point spurt, aided by two attack errors by Lipscomb and a kill by Stokes, to cut the deficit to five, 17-12. Off the timeout, the Bisons went on an 8-0 run to close out the set, 25-12.
The finale was similar to the second set, as KSU was tied with the Bisons 3-3 until a 9-1 run made the score 12-4 and put the set and match out of reach. The Owls would close the gap to as low as four after a
Sabrita Gulley kill made the score 18-14, but the Bisons would win seven of the final 10 points of the match to put the contest away.
Gulley and Stokes each had eight kills to lead KSU, while Gulley added a team-high 11 digs. Senior libero Selina O'Leary added 10 digs, leaving her just five short of the 1,000-dig mark for her career.
Meghan Hinemeyer led Lipscomb's attack with 14 kills and a .44 attack percentage. Stefine Pease had 43 assists in guiding Lipscomb's offense.
The Owls will return to action tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. against Belmont, donning pink uniforms as a team for the first time for their annual "Dig Pink" match to raise awareness for the cause of Breast Cancer Awareness. All fans who wear pink will be admitted to the Convocation Center for free, with each fan also having the opportunity to make a donation to the Side-Out Foundation's Dig Pink Initiative.
