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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Kennesaw State volleyball had its set win streak snapped at nine after dropping the first set of the afternoon, but quickly recovered with three straight convincing wins to claim a sixth straight match victory, 3-1 (23-25, 25-14, 25-19, 25-16) over Eastern Kentucky Sunday afternoon. The contest, played on the campus of North Florida, was the third of three games for the Owls this weekend as part of divisional crossover play.
With the victory, the Owls improved to 14-8 overall, and stand at 8-3 in league action, ranking them third in the east division, one game behind second place UNF (9-2).
OWL OF THE GAME: Jasmine Brown recorded the best hitting performance of the season by an Owl, with a dazzling .786 thanks to 11 kills out of just 14 total attempts with no errors for the afternoon.
STAT OF THE GAME: A season-high .402 team hitting percentage for the Owls (65K-12E-132TA) was easily the difference on Sunday. That including a pair of above .500 sets, as KSU went .517 in second two and .516 in set three.
SET ONE: The Owls took an early 6-2 edge but could never get enough separation from EKU in the set. The Colonels tied the game at 9-9, the first of seven ties in the opening set, but never took a lead until a run of two straight points to grab a 22-21 advantage. KSU came back to tie the game at 22-22 and 23-23, before EKU finished out with two straight for the win.
SET TWO: KSU made sure there would be no repeat of the first set, as two separate 5-0 runs, the first that made the score 10-3, and the second to make it 18-9, were the difference. Kills by Lanie Vantrease and Jasmine Brown accounted for the final two points as the Owls tied the match at 1-1.
SET THREE: This time KSU opened with a 5-0 run, which featured two kills from Lauren Chastang. EKU closed within two only once, at 10-8, otherwise the Owls had little resistance on the way to a second set win, with kills by Chastang and McKinely Ferguson sealing the win.
SET FOUR: While EKU never held a lead, the Colonels kept it interesting as they trailed by just one, 11-10 after two straight points. KSU opened up the set by winning seven of the next nine points for an 18-12 advantage. The Owls closed off the set and the match with three straight kills, from Ferguson, Ballou and Claire Parsons.
QUOTEABLE: "Another really nice performance by our group today. EKU is a super aggressive serving and attacking team, and our players responded and competed big time on the passing and defensive side of the ball today. On offense, McKinley was fantastic spreading the ball around to our hitters today. When our offense gets rolling like that we're a lot to handle. Heck of a weekend by our team." – KSU head coach Keith Schunzel
NOTES:
- The opening set loss by the Owls was their first since dropping the first set to North Florida a week ago, on Oct. 17. Since that set, KSU had won nine straight sets, a season-high.
- Four Owls finished in double-figures for kills, paced by Chastang's 16 kills. She also added eight digs. Schurfranz also added 16 kills, six blocks and three digs, while Dani Ballou posted 11 kills.
- Other Owl stars included Ferguson (47 assists) and Shelby Dennis (15 digs).
NEXT TIME OUT: The Owls will have just one game next weekend, a Friday, Oct. 29 contest at Liberty with a 6 pm start in Lynchburg, Va.
