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CHARLESTON, S.C. – Kennesaw State was taken to the distance in the opening game of the day, coming up just short in five sets to Montana 3-2 (25-17, 27-29, 30-28, 23-25, 12-15) Saturday morning before falling to the host College of Charleston Cougars by a 3-1 score (19-25, 25-15, 12-25, 20-25) in the second game. With the two losses, the Owls dropped to 1-2 on their opening weekend of the 2021 season after posting a 3-1 win over Indiana State on Friday. All three matches this weekend were part of the CofC Invitational, hosted by the College of Charleston in TD Arena.
GAME ONE: KSU came out strong at the start against Montana, with a season-high .450 hitting percentage in the first set for a quick eight-point win. Things were still on the Owls side at the end of the second as they were just one point away from taking the set with a 24-20 lead. However the Grizz rallied with four straight to tie the set, and eventually claimed a 29-27 win. The teams then traded the next two sets, leading to the deciding fifth set where the Owls only led twice, at 2-1 and 3-2. Montana used a 5-1 run to go up 7-4 and never trailed again on the way to the win.
GAME ONE STATS: Lauren Chastang paced the way with a match-high 22 kills, while Emma Schurfranz and Jasmine Brown both finished with 13 each. McKinley Ferguson notched 54 assists and Bri Becerra paced the Owls with 20 digs. Chastang also finished with 10 digs, for her first double-double of the season.
GAME TWO: The first two sets were complete opposites, with the College of Charleston claiming a 25-19 set one win, while KSU made quick work of set two with a 25-15 score, thanks to the Cougars posting just a 0.65 hitting percentage. With the match tied at 1-1, CofC took advantage of seven KSU attack errors for a 25-12 set win, and then held off a late Owl rally in the fourth set to close out the match.
GAME TWO STATS: Schurfranz had a team-high .333 hitting percentage and tied for the team lead in kills against the Cougars with 14, along with Chastang. Becerra and Shelby Dennis both posted 10 digs each, while Ferguson tallied 38 assists for the match. KSU had only one set in which it was above .200 in hitting percentage, .323 in the 25-15 set two win.
QUOTEABLE: "This afternoon's match was a byproduct of what happened this morning against Montana. We were in complete control of that match, up 1 set to 0 and 24-20 in the second set. But we didn't close the game and end up playing (and losing) a five-set emotional, tough, draining match.
"Then two hours later we had to reset and find the mental and physical energy to play against a good College of Charleston team in their gym. That's a big ask and we came up short.
"Overall, we grew this weekend and our team did some really good things. But our serve, pass and defense has to get better, and overall, we have to find more stretches of consistent play." – KSU head coach Keith Schunzel
UP NEXT
The Owls are back in action next weekend at the Blazer Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama. First KSU will face Georgia Southern on Saturday, Sept. 4 at 3 pm, followed by a Sunday, Sept. 5 match at the host UAB Blazers, also at 3 pm.
