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KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State volleyball team (8-8) moved to 2-0 in Atlantic Sun play after topping the Northern Kentucky Norse (25-21, 25-23, 20-25, 25-23) in a Friday night clash.
 
"The fight of this group continues to amaze me," head coach Keith Schunzel said. "We've been really injury prone these last couple of weeks, so it's been a real up and down week and a half of training. We talked about no matter what's happened, we're 1-0 and tonight's a chance to go to 2-0 in conference, and we finally had a chance to close a team out in the fourth set and we did it. A lot of our players stepped up tonight and it was great."
 
Kelly Marcinek had a double-double with 16 kills and 11 digs. Cierra Royster finished the match with 14 kills hitting .700.
 
Kristi Piedimonte collected 48 assists with eight digs and six kills.
 
Dig wise, Fanise Cannon led the team with 15. Toure Hopkins stepped up big as the libero tonight and finished with 14 digs, and Alex Huber had a career high with seven.
 
In the fourth set, Northern Kentucky held a one-point lead at 23-22 and Kennesaw State scored three unanswered off of Chade Martin and Ria Ridley kills. Then, with a match point, Marcinek had her fourth ace of the match to clinch it for the Owls.
 
The first set was close in the early going until the Owls went on a 5-1 run putting them up 15-11 and forcing NKU to take a timeout. KSU maintained that lead and went on take the first set 25-21.
 
The Norse raced out to a five-point lead in the second before the Owls stormed back. Down 10-15, KSU started chipping away and eventually tying the score at 17. From there, the Owls took the lead and had four set points before finally cashing in with an Anaiah Boyer kill to take a 2-0 set lead.
 
After dropping the third set, Kennesaw State won the decisive fourth set to win the the match.
 
The Owls will be right back on the court tomorrow at 3 p.m. against the Lipscomb Bisons. There is a post-game youth clinic immediately following the match.

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.
 
Fans are reminded that tickets to all 2014 home volleyball contests are free throughout the year.