Box Score vs Alabama (PDF) 
 
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KENNESAW, Ga. – Kennesaw State volleyball made the most of its home court advantage on Tuesday night, as the Owls opened their home schedule with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-23) sweep over the Alabama Crimson Tide at the Convocation Center. Playing on their brand new Taraflex court which made its debut for the gamer, the Owls gave the home crowd of 823 an exciting night as they watched KSU win its third straight game to improve to 4-2 on the season, while Alabama was handed its second loss of the year (5-2 overall).
 
The story of the night was Lauren Chastang. The senior from Bay Minette came up with crushing kills every time the Crimson Tide threatened to get into the game, and would finish with 11 for the night, while adding seven digs. But even more impressive, she tied the school record for service aces in a game with an astounding seven in a three-set match. Her previous high had been six, set twice before.
 
SET ONE: All three sets were very close the entire night. The first saw the visitors take an early 7-4 lead, before the Owls roared back to score 13 of the next 17 points. That put KSU up 17-11 off an ace from Lucy Green. Alabama didn't go away, coming back to tie the game at 19-19 and 20-20. Another tie, at 21-21, KSU closed out the set with four straight kills for the four-point win.
 
SET TWO: Again Alabama held an early lead, this time at 6-1. The Crimson Tide still led at 13-12 before KSU made its move. A kill from McKinley Ferguson was followed by three straight Chastang aces for a 16-13 lead, and the Owls led by at least two points the rest of the way.
 
SET THREE: The third set saw a total of 12 ties and six lead changes. It was the visitors that led for the majority of the set, but never by more than two points. The Crimson Tide's last lead was at 22-20, until a 4-0 run but gave the Owls match point. Alabama scored the next point, before Dani Ballou scored the kill for the victory.
 
STAT OF THE GAME: KSU finished with eight aces in the match, to zero for Alabama.
 
QUOTEABLE: "Two things I loved tonight. First, that we defended at a really high level for the entire match. Receiving serves, blocking, just all-around great defense. And second, I thought we did a great job tonight of finding several different ways to score. Our offensive wasn't as affective tonight as I would have liked, but we made up for that with great communication on the court. We found a lot of ways to score points and that's to me the most impressive thing about tonight. Now with two more big games this week, this is something we've prepared our players for, it's the standard we have set for our program. We schedule tough, we recruit players for the challenge of playing games like this. It's exciting for the players, it's exciting for the fans. It's going to be a tough stretch, South Carolina is coming in here ranked in the top 25, while Clemson has a very good team. But we've trained for this, we want to be in these kind of matches." – KSU head coach Keith Schunzel
 
NOTES:

• Kennesaw State claimed its fourth all-time win over teams from the SEC and moved to 2-0 all-time against Alabama. The other two wins against the SEC are over Georgia and Mississippi State.
• KSU now has multiple wins over three Power Five teams with the win over the Crimson Tide. The Owls have also claimed two wins each over both Clemson (2-1) and Georgia Tech (2-2).
• The Owls are on a six-set win streak, dating back to their last game in which they trailed at UAB 2-0 before rallying with three straight wins to claim the match 3-2 on Sunday.
• A pair of Owls finished with double-digit kills, as Emma Schurfranz posted a game-high 14. Bri Becerra notched a team-high 10 digs, and Ferguson added 36 assists.
• KSU hit .364 in the first set and .238 for the match, while the Crimson Tide managed a .134 performance for the night.
• This was KSU's first 3-0 contest of the season.
• KSU is in the midst of three straight home games against Power Five opponents, all at home. This is the first time in program history KSY has played three straight Power Five teams.
• The Owls' TeraFlex court came after two years of fundraising by the team and the school. Several of the top donors were recognized before the game and participated in the first serve.

GRIFFIN'S GAME
Up next for the Owls is the KSU Classic. First, No. 24 South Carolina makes the visit to the Convocation Center for a Thursday, 7 pm contest, with admission free for the contest. That's followed by a Friday night game at 7 pm against Clemson. That also serves as this year's Griffin's Game, the annual fundraiser to help a local family in their fight against childhood cancer. Tickets for the contest are $10, while group tickets are also available. Fans can make donations or buy T-shirts as well to help the cause by clicking here.