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Score: Kennesaw State 3, Liberty 0 (29-27, 25-17, 25-18)
Records: Kennesaw State (9-0, 9-0), Liberty (2-6, 2-5)
Key Players: Dani Ballou (12 kills, 2 blks, .426 hit pct.), Lauren Chastang (12 kills, 8 digs, 3 blks), Chelsey Abel (6 kills, 9 blks), Emma Schurfranz (8 kills, 2 blks), Claire Parsons (6 kills, 2 blks), Jessie Cohen (33 assts, 5 blks) and Karlee Groover (11 digs, 4 assts, 1 ace).
 
THE STORYLINE 
After a shaky start, the Kennesaw State volleyball team bounced back and powered through to sweep Liberty 29-27, 25-17, 25-18 Friday night in the Convocation Center to improve to 9-0 on the year.

SCHUNZEL QUOTES
On the first set comeback…
"One, Liberty is incredibly dangerous they have huge athletes, huge arms and when they handle the ball they are as good as anyone in our league. We preach it to our team and they see it and believe. So, us being down in the first set wasn't a big shock to me because Liberty was playing better than we were. When we came back, we made a couple plays on defense and we were just preaching that whole first set part of the lack of energy and building with our team is that we weren't dig-transitioning, we weren't doing anything on the defensive end, and Liberty was just scoring at will. Your energy typically comes from your defense. And once we came back, then we started to get into a real good rhythm offensively, our serve picked up and they passed the ball off the net a lot the rest of the set and then the match really changed. Certainly, coming back in that first set was critical and obviously we were down big so we were pretty lucky to win that first set."
 
On Chelsey Abel…
"Every time she steps on the court she's going to get better and this was her third college match. She redshirted in 2019 and obviously we've been training for a year here. Her ceiling is incredibly high and as she gets more and more experience, she'll be able to show more and more confidence and play more freely and just be able to go after it. Tonight, she played much freer than she did last weekend. You're going to see that more and more because that kid is going to be a force and tonight we saw a lot more glimmers of it than we did last weekend. Every time she plays, I think she's going to get better as long as she keeps working hard."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Liberty took charge in the opening set after a 3-0 run had the Flames leading 9-4. LU pushed its lead to as high as 17-10 following a 5-2 swing capped off by an ace. The Owls attempted to chip away at the lead with a quick 4-1 run to pull within four, 18-14. KSU couldn't seem to string anything together though as Liberty was on the verge of winning the opening set leading 23-17.
 
That's when a switch flipped as a kill from Lauren Chastang opened a 5-0 run to pull the Owls within one, 23-22. Chastang had two of KSU's kills during the run with Chelsey Abel recording another while teaming up with Jessie Cohen for a block. After the Flames earned set point, a service error put the ball back in KSU's hands before another block by Abel and Cohen knotted the match at 24-24. The Owls finally pulled in front thanks to back-to-back kills from Dani Ballou to make it 26-25. The two squads traded points until KSU sealed the 29-27 set victory with a kill from Emma Schurfranz and an ace from Ballou, her first of the season.

The Flames looked to even the score in the second set with another hot start, jumping out to a 6-2 lead. But the Owls found their groove once again going on a 7-1 run to pull ahead 9-7. It was all KSU after that as the Owls powered to a 19-11 lead following a 9-2 swing. Liberty tried to cut into the lead but could not break the seven-point barrier as KSU hit .357 in the set, compared to .069 for the Flames, to cruise to a 25-17 set win. Ballou led the way for the Owls in the set with six kills on seven swings for an .857 hitting percentage.
 
It was a back-and-forth affair to open the final set as both teams were deadlocked at 8-8 early on. KSU earned the edge with a 3-0 run featuring kills from Schurfranz and Claire Parsons with the duo also combining for a block. The Owls extended their lead to 16-11 as a block from Chastang and Abel capped off a 4-0 run. The two teams traded points as KSU held Liberty at bay down the stretch leading 20-17. The Owls closed out the match recording five of the final six points which included two kills each from Parsons and Schurfranz as well as an ace from Parsons to earn the 25-18 victory.

NOTES
- Chelsey Abel recorded a career-high six kills and nine blocks in the match, the second most blocks in a three-set match in KSU history.
- Dani Ballou recorded double-digit kills for the fourth time this season, hitting .429 in the match to mark the third match this season she has hit over .400.
- Claire Parsons had her fourth match hitting .400 or better, finishing with a .462 hitting percentage with six kills and no errors.
-  KSU's 12 blocks ties their season-high and marks the second straight match with 10 or more blocks.
- The Owls held Liberty to a .080 team hitting percentage, their third straight match holding an opponent to less than a .100 hitting percentage.

UP NEXT
The Owls take on Liberty for the fourth time this season Saturday night at 7 p.m. in their final home match of the regular season.