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KENNESAW, Ga. – In the home finale for three Kennesaw State volleyball seniors, the Owls brought Jacksonville to the brink, but couldn’t hold off the Dolphins, falling in five sets, 3-2 (18-25, 25-20, 21-25, 25-21, 11-15), on Saturday afternoon.
The match was the second this season that went five sets between KSU (16-13, 5-9 Atlantic Sun Conference) and JU (7-20, 5-9 A-Sun), the Owls winning the first down in Jacksonville, Fla. earlier this season.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my team,” said Kennesaw State head coach
Karen Weatherington. “It was a battle down there earlier in the season and it was a battle here today. If nothing else, we want our girls to learn from every opportunity on the court, and they did that today.”
The 2012 senior class led the way for KSU during the marathon match,
Turea Jones (Santa Rosa, Calif./Santa Rosa JC) earned her 10
th double-double of the season with a team high 16 kills and 18 digs while
Baylee Strachan (Sioux City, Iowa/Winthrop) picked up 12 kills and a pair of blocks, all under the watchful eye of four-year team manager
Josh Reneau.
“It’s such a bittersweet feeling for my seniors,” said an emotional Weatherington. “Turea plays with all her heart and Baylee is such a powerful, multifaceted weapon for us. Josh is such an important part of what we do here every day. He is both a student and a coach and has brought such a professional attitude day in and day out to our program.”
The fifth set saw the teams play to a 5-5 draw before the Dolphins inched out to a 10-7 lead. KSU called the timeout, but three straight points by Jacksonville put the set out of reach at 13-7. The Owls earned four more points on three JU attack errors and an
Emily Bean (Indianapolis, Ind./Pike HS) kill, but it wasn’t enough as Jacksonville took the 15-11 win.
Set four saw the Owls battle back early on, erasing a 4-0 lead for Jacksonville with four straight points of their own to tie it up. The set was tied up seven more times until the black and gold ultimately took the lead with a kill from
Keyaira Stevenson (Columbia, S.C./Ridgeview HS) to go up 17-16. Chade Martin (Augusta, Ga./Grovetown HS) put the set away, 25-21, for KSU.
The only other set win for the Owls came in the second set as six Jones kills evened the match at one set each with a 25-20 win. After falling behind 16-12, back-to-back kills by Martin and Jones, along with a Dolphin attack error put KSU within one at 16-15. Jones then tied it up at 17 before four straight JU errors put the Owls up for good.
Jacksonville earned an opening set win, 25-18 and went up 2-1 in the match with a 25-21 win in the third before the Owls knotted up the contest with the fourth set win.
The Owls earned 10 team blocks during the outing, led by Martin’s five block assists and one solo block with four block assists and one solo block from Jones.
Stevenson was the third KSU player in double-digit figures in the kills category with her 13 while setter
Sara Metroka (New Castle, Ind./New Castle Chrysler Ind.) aided with 48 assists.
Camille Pedraza (Marietta, Ga./Kell HS) was again the anchor of the Owl defense with a match high 25 digs.
The Owls end the home portion of their 2012 season with a 6-7 record and will wrap up the season with four straight road games, the first of which comes Friday when KSU heads to Lipscomb. The black and gold still hold one of the top road records in the conference at 7-2.
To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State volleyball news follow the team on Twitter
@KSUOwlNation and
@KSUOwlsVB or by liking Kennesaw State University Volleyball on Facebook.
Kennesaw State University is celebrating 30 years of intercollegiate athletics during the 2012-13 academic year.
Around the A-Sun
Florida Gulf Coast 3, Stetson 1
Lipscomb 3, USC Upstate 0
North Florida 3, Mercer 0
Eastern Tennessee State 3, Northern Kentucky 2
