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HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Kennesaw State volleyball team took a tough road loss at the hands of Northern Kentucky on Saturday afternoon, falling to the Norse, 3-1 (17-25, 25-20, 19-25, 23-25), in just the second ever meeting between the two schools.
The Owls now head into the final two matches of the season at 16-15 overall and 5-11 in the Atlantic Sun Conference, finding themselves in the midst of a three way tie for the final spot in the A-Sun Postseason Tournament along with Mercer and Jacksonville.
KSU will close out the season with matches at third place East Tennessee State and Mercer as the black and gold fight for a spot in the postseason.
23-7, 10-6 in the A-Sun, Northern Kentucky took a 4-1 lead right away in the opening set, until KSU’s
Sara Metroka (New Castle, Ind./New Castle Chrysler, Ind.) put over the successful setter dump to give the black and gold an 8-7 advantage. But a 5-1 run by the home team gave the Norse the lead for good as they went on to a 25-17 set win.
The Owls evened things up in the match in the second set, this time taking the 5-1 edge on back-to-back attack errors by the Norse. Three straight kills by
Turea Jones (Santa Rosa, Calif./Santa Rosa JC) midway through then put KSU up, 14-9, as the Owls never looked back, taking a 25-20 win with
Baylee Strachan (Sioux City, Iowa/Winthrop) picking up the set-winning kill.
In what was an even tilted third set, it was NKU that came out with the 2-1 match advantage after a 25-19 set win. With the set tied up at 16 after a Strachan service ace, the Norse went on the 4-1 run to go up 20-17. The Owls then scored just twice more as the home team rattled off three straight points to end the set.
KSU was on the verge of forcing a decisive fifth set, but a 7-1 run by the Norse at the end of the fourth ended the match, 25-23. The Owls led the entire way until the 22-18 mark when NKU sparked their run with a Kelly Morrissey kill. After falling behind, 23-22, Metroka tied it back up at 23 with a kill, but the Norse scored the final two points of the set to hand the Owls the loss.
“Today was such a competitive victory for us,” said Kennesaw State head coach
Karen Weatherington. “We knew we had our work cut out for us if we wanted to spoil Senior Night for six NKU players. They’re such an experienced group and they played a great game. It was just their day.”
Jones added yet another double-double to her name, this time tying a career high with 20 kills along with 19 digs, a .292 attack percentage and a pair of block assists and service aces.
Libero
Camille Pedraza (Marietta, Ga./Kell HS) earned 20 digs for the second straight game to aid in the defensive effort during the loss.
“Camille and Turea were phenomenal on defense for us today,” added Weatherington. “Every player did their part today to make us successful, it was just a tough match and a tough one to have get away from us. Our hearts showed and we definitely made NKU earn the win. I’m proud of my team and our belief in each other, especially at this time in the season.”
Sophomore
Keyaira Stevenson (Columbia, S.C./Ridgeview HS) put up 12 kills while Strachan was good for 10. Metroka was a perfect 4-for-4 in attacks while earning 35 assist and 12 digs as well.
The Owls will now head back to Tennessee for a Tuesday match with ETSU. Game time is set for 7 p.m. for the midweek meeting with the Bucs.
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
Lipscomb 3, Mercer 0
ETSU 3, Stetson 0
Florida Gulf Coast 3, USC Upstate 0
North Florida 3, Jacksonville 0
