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KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State volleyball team grinded out a 3-1 win over Presbyterian Friday night, 25-18, 25-27, 25-19, 25-9, to close out the ASUN/Big South Challenge in front of 810 fans at the Convocation Center. 
 
Sophomore Lauren Chastang put on a clinic recording a career-high 18 kills while adding nine digs and a team-high four blocks. The BayMinette, Ala., native has now recorded 10 or more kills in all but one match so far this season.

How it happened: The Owls (5-0) found a groove early, taking a 9-2 lead in the first set following a 6-0 run capped off by back-to-back aces from sophomore libero Karlee Groover. 
 
KSU kept Presbyterian (1-4) at bay the rest of the set, capitalizing on PC errors and tremendous serving to take the opening set, 25-18. Despite hitting only .083 in the first set, the Owls recorded six total aces, three by Groover.
 
Presbyterian rallied back in the opening minutes of the second set, jumping out to an early 6-2 lead. The Blue Hose pushed their lead to as high as 21-14 following a 6-2 lead capped off by three straight kills from Presbyterian's Erin Cooke. 
 
Sophomore Quin Sutphin finally halted PC's run with her first kill of the night, sparking an 8-0 run for the Owls to take the lead 23-21. Both squads traded points, but Presbyterian found the edge to win the set, 27-25, and tie the match 1-1.
 
Out of the break, Presbyterian continued their momentum by taking a 5-0 lead. Unphased, KSU answered with a 10-1 run to take a 10-6 lead. Junior Lexi Broadwater came alive during the run, recording two aces, a kill and a block to help spur the Owls in front.
 
PC came within one multiple times during the set, but could not regain the lead as KSU held the Blue Hose to -.088 hitting for the set. The Owls utilized Presbyterian's errors to close out the set on a 5-0 run to take a 2-1 lead.
 
Kennesaw State dominated the fourth set right out of the gate taking an early 8-2 lead. The Owls ran away with the set hitting a scorching .560 percent while holding Presbyterian to -.034. Chastang recorded five of her 18 kills in the fourth set to lead KSU to a 25-9 win.
 
Notable: The Owls recorded 11 aces on the night, the fifth-most in program history … Broadwater finished with a career-high five aces, while Groover recorded four followed by one each from Chastang and senior Maddie Jones … Broadwater recorded her second straight double-double, finishing the match with 35 assists and 14 digs, a career-high.
 
New Faces: Four freshmen, Kaylee Morris, Jasmine Brown, Katie Crocker and Dani Ballou, made their first appearances on the court at the Convocation Center Friday night … Brown had a huge night hitting .571 with five kills while also recording one block … Ballou recorded all three of her kills on the night in the fourth set, including the match-clinching point.
 
Quotable: Head coach Keith Schunzel
On the close match…
"It's not always going to go like you want it to go, and this is a really good early season chance for our team to experience that. We had a couple people step up and make some plays as the match went on and our team has got to learn what that feels like."
 
On Chastang's performance…
"Every game you see her learn something new. She obviously has a huge arm, she's worked a lot on her six rotation play, passing, defense, serving. We're asking her to do a lot, probably more than what she maybe should be doing, but every game she gets better and better and she really reduced her errors tonight and scored a ton, which is what we need her to do."
 
On letting the team play through second set issues…
"As a coach you always balance, ok do they have to figure this out or do we bring them over and settle them down. And right now, at this point in the season, I would rather have them figure some things out on the court cause they're the ones playing and during the match they have to make the adjustments on the court, on the fly and I thought we did better as the match went on."
 
Up Next: KSU closes out its three-match homestand Tuesday (Sept. 4), hosting ACC foe Clemson at 7 p.m.

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