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Kennesaw, Ga. – In a front of a very enthusiastic crowd, the Kennesaw State volleyball team dropped a very intense match to the Lipscomb Bisons 3-1 (25-23, 25-20, 18-25, 25-21) in the opening round of the Atlantic Sun tournament.
 
"I told the team how proud I was of how hard they played and fought as well as our leadership, starting with the seniors and all the way down," head coach Keith Schunzel said. "I'm torn on the inside that we couldn't pull out another set and push it to five because we fought as hard as we possibly could. I'm just so proud to coach this team and to have players that played that hard and represented Kennesaw State Athletics the way they did."
 
The score was knotted at seven in the first set before the Owls opened up a four-point lead behind a service ace by Toure Hopkins and a kill by Cierra Royster forcing Lipscomb to take a timeout. The Bisons would make a comeback late in the set and close out the first set 25-23.
 
In the second set, KSU would jump out to an early 3-1 lead on another kill by Royster from Sara Metroka, but Lipscomb would take control of the set after that. They would end up winning the second set 25-20.
 
Down 2-0 in the match, the Owls came out in the third ready to fight back. With the match tied at five, Megan McGuinness got one of her seven kills in the match to get a big side out and give the ball to Metroka for the serve. She would win six straight points on her serve highlighted by a Kelly Marcinek kill to put the Owls up 12-5. Lipscomb tried to mount another comeback and would bring the score to 21-17, but the Owls would push it to a fourth set.
 
After being down three points early in the fourth set, KSU would fight back again to take a 12-10 lead after another Marcinek kill. Both teams continued to go back and forth before Lipscomb went on a run late and would close out the match winning the fourth set 25-21.
 
Marcinek showed why she was the Atlantic Freshman of the Year as she led the team with a double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs.
 
Royster also had double-digit kills with 11, and Metroka finished the match with 38 assists. Hopkins had 10 digs and nine kills in the match as well.
 
The Owls will wrap up their season as they travel to Athens, Georgia to take on the Georgia Bulldogs on Friday, November 29 at 5 P.M.
 
To keep up with the latest Kennesaw State volleyball news follow the team on Twitter @KSUOwlNation and @KSUOwlsVB or by liking Kennesaw State University on Facebook.
 
   

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