By: by Jason Hanes
Box Score
KENNESAW, Ga. - Kennesaw State's volleyball team rallied from a 19-14 deficit in the fourth set to force a final set, but after thwarting the Owls on match point, East Tennessee State dropped the Owls 3-2 (19-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-21, 15-17) Friday night at the KSU Convocation Center in an Atlantic Sun Conference match. Sabrita Gulley set a new KSU record with 24 kills in the contest.
"We created a lot of obstacles for ourselves," said KSU head coach Karen Weatherington. "ETSU is a solid offensive team. We worked hard to counter what they were going to do, but when we stopped following our game plan, we gave them the opportunity to win."
After being a perfect 3-0 in five-set matches entering the evening, the Owls (7-2, 2-1) couldn't convert the points they needed to win the match. The Owls led 14-13 in the finale, but consecutive kills by ETSU (4-7, 3-1) gave the visitors a 15-14 lead. Asjia Stokes, who had 19 kills on the night, attacked a ball off the ETSU block that just landed outside the court to fight off the match point try and give KSU back the serve. But ETSU would take advantage of consecutive attack errors by the home team - the final one coming on a block by the Lady Bucs - to win the final set, 17-15.
That there was even a fifth set played is a testament to the fight of the Owls. Trailing 19-14 in the fourth set, the Owls stormed back with an 11-2 run to square the match. Consecutive kills by Gulley sparked the run and forced ETSU into a timeout leading 19-16. After the stoppage, a block by Holly Knight brought KSU within two, 19-17. The Owls committed an attack error to give ETSU a point, but a Gulley Kill, an attack error by ETSU, and a block by Stokes evened the score, 20-20. The Owls took the lead on a kill by Knight, forcing ETSU to ask for time again. After the timeout, Stokes pushed the lead to two with a kill. ETSU scored the next point to cut the deficit to one, 22-21, but a kill by Stokes and a pair of attack errors by the Lady Bucs gave the Owls the set, 25-21.
After dropping the first set, 25-19, the Owls needed a spark in the second set after ETSU took the first three points of the frame. In stepped Bianca Rucker for her first action with the Owls. The redshirt freshman delivered, drilling five kills without an error in six swings for an .833 attack percentage, sparking the Owls to a 25-21 win in the set.
The Owls finished the match with more kills than the Lady Bucs (65-63) and more digs (75-72). However ETSU had the better attack percentage (.203 - .173) as the Owls committed 32 attack errors to just 26 for the visitors.
Gulley and Stokes each finished with a double-double, as Gulley had 15 digs while Stokes had 16. "The best part of Sabrita's game [tonight] was her passing," said Coach Weatherington. "She passed nails for us. When we can get her in a groove like that, she's unstoppable.
"Sabrita and Asjia have unlimited talent," Coach Weatherington continued. "They want to step up and be the go-to players and we as a team have to begin to recognize that more."
Selina O'Leary had a match-high 17 digs for the Owls, while Chelsey Denesha added 10.
Four Lady Bucs were in double-figures in kills, led by Erin Ryan's 17. Desiree Dyck recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 15 digs.
The Owls will have just a few hours to recover from the loss as Campbell visits the KSU Convocation Center Saturday afternoon for a 3 p.m. Atlantic Sun Conference match.
