Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML) | Photo Gallery | Highlights

Score: Kennesaw State 3, North Alabama 0 (25-12, 25-10, 25-19)
Records: Kennesaw State (7-0, 7-0), North Alabama (1-5, 1-4)
Key Players: Dani Ballou (13 kills, .440 hit pct.), Lauren Chastang (10 kills, 7 digs, 3 aces, 3 blks), Emma Schurfranz (9 kills, 4 aces), Jessie Cohen (29 assts, 4 digs, 3 blks) and Karlee Groover (12 digs, 2 aces).
 
THE STORYLINE 
The Kennesaw State volleyball team opened the weekend with a dominant straight set sweep over North Alabama (25-12, 25-10, 25-19) Friday night in front of a sold out crowd at the Convocation Center.

SCHUNZEL QUOTES
On tonight's match…
"I was really impressed with our group's focus and consistent intensity and execution tonight. I thought we played a really clean, high level match from start to finish. I thought we controlled UNA and did some things that slowed down some things that they wanted to do. All in all, a really good night for us."

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Owls were in control from the word go as a 6-0 run featuring four aces from Emma Schurfranz put KSU on top 8-2 early. KSU continued to put the pressure on outscoring UNA 8-1 thanks to four more aces, three from Lauren Chastang and one from Karlee Groover, to push its lead to 16-5. The Lions started to match KSU down the stretch but it was too little too late as the Owls cruised to a 25-12 set victory behind eight aces.
 
KSU carried its momentum into the second set jumping out to a 6-0 lead. The Lions managed to cut the lead down to three, 9-6, but the Owls responded with a 5-0 run featuring four straight kills from Dani Ballou to push their lead to 14-6. Kills from Ballou sandwiched another quick 4-0 run to make it 18-7 in favor of the Owls. UNA finally broke the run with a kill, but it did not slow down the Owls as KSU recorded seven of the final nine points, capped off by a kill from Chelsey Abel, to win set two 25-10. KSU recorded a tremendous .500 hitting percentage in the set committing only one error as Ballou led the way with six kills on eight swings for a .750 hitting percentage.
 
The third set started off slow for KSU as the two teams traded points early on. The Owls eventually took control as a kill from Jessie Cohen opened a 5-0 run to put KSU on top 8-4. The Lions cut the lead back down to two as both teams proceeded to trade points throughout most of the set with KSU holding on to a 14-10 lead. KSU was able to slowly pull away to lead by as much as seven points, 20-13, following a combo block from Chastang and Claire Parsons. After a quick 3-0 run from the Lions cut the lead to 21-17, a pair of kills from Chastang had the Owls set up for the sweep 23-17. UNA attempted to rally with back-to-back points, but an error and a kill from Ballou sealed the set victory 25-19.

NOTES
- Dani Ballou led the team with 13 kills, her third double-digit kill performance this season.
- The Owls recorded 11 aces in the match, their second straight match, and third of the season, with 10 or more aces.
- Emma Schurfranz logged a career-high four aces.
- Schurfranz finished the match hitting .368, her fifth match this season hitting .300 or better.
- As a team, KSU hit .307 for the match, its third game this year hitting .300 or better.

UP NEXT
The Owls round out the weekend against North Alabama Sunday afternoon, taking on the Lions at 2 p.m. in the Convocation Center.