By: by Jason Hanes
Box Score
BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Senior
Chelsey Denesha had a double-double as Kennesaw State's volleyball team avenged an earlier loss this season by sweeping Campbell, 3-0 (25-18, 25-11, 25-19), on Friday night in an Atlantic Sun Conference match at the Pope Convocation Center.
The win for the Owls was one of the most statistically dominating in program history. The 48 points scored by Campbell marks the fewest points ever allowed by the Owls in four years of existence. KSU trailed 3-0 in the third set, the largest and only deficit the Owls faced the entire match. The Owls erased that deficit with a 7-0 run for the only lead change in the entire match as the Owls led throughout both the first and second sets.
"Our team played with such frenetic energy tonight," said KSU head coach
Karen Weatherington, who became the winningest coach in program history in just her first season with the win tonight. "We didn't play like we were in Buies Creek, we played like we were in the zone. Tonight was just one of those ideal moments that as a coach you always hope to see your team reach, and we did just that."
The Owls hit .291 for the match while holding the Camels to a .053 attack percentage. The Owls had 13 attack errors for the match, with eight coming off Campbell blocks, meaning that only five KSU attacks landed in the net or outside of the court during the entirety of the match.
Denesha recorded her third double-double of the year with 12 kills and 12 digs, with sophomore
Rachael Albright coming up one dig short in her double-double effort after recording a match-high 20 assists and nine digs.
Junior
Sabrita Gulley had a match-high 16 points with 14 kills, one ace, and two total blocks for KSU. Sophomore
Callie Churchwell returned to the dominant form she had earlier this season as she put down six attacks successfully out of nine tries for a .667 attack percentage. The Florida native also had four total blocks, giving her 75 for the season in 79 sets played.
Senior libero Selina O'Leary had a match-high 19 digs, giving her a school single-season record 333 for the year. O'Leary and junior
Eman Burns were two of the big reasons the Owls were able to dominate the Camels.
"Selina just took over half the court," said Coach Weatherington. "She is playing at a very high level right now. Having Eman back from her injury earlier this season has been a huge boost to our serve reception and defensive execution."
After strugging with serve reception in the earlier match with campbell, the Owls had very few problems Friday night. The Owls allowed the Camels to score just seven points on their serve in the first two sets, as KSU recorded side outs on 22-of-30 serves (73 percent).
Now, the Owls will travel to Johnson City, Tenn., for a match Saturday evening at 6 p.m. with East Tennessee State. The Owls are currently one-half game in front of the Buccaneers for sixth place in the A-Sun. A win would allow KSU to gain a one-game advantage in the loss column, while a loss would drop KSU to seventh in the A-Sun standings.
