By: Ansley Rice
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NASHVILLE, Tenn.— The Kennesaw State volleyball team fell 3-1 (25-20, 21-25, 25-18, 25-11) in the ASUN Conference semifinals during a hard-fought battle on Friday against defending tournament champion FGCU.
The Owls closed the season 18-10 overall (10-7 ASUN).
STAT OF THE GAME: Attack errors hurt KSU, as the Owls finished the night with 23 attack errors to contribute to the team's .180-hitting percentage. While FGCU posted more service errors than the Black and Gold, the Eagles' four aces worked to the team's advantage.
SET ONE: The Eagles took the early lead in the first set, but Manu Johnsen had back-to-back kills to push the Owls ahead 8-7. The match was a back-and-forth affair until the Eagles went on a 6-0 run to grab a 13-7 lead. The Owls fought until the end, but ultimately fell 25-20 in set one.
SET TWO: Despite the slow start, KSU looked to turn the match around as
Emma Schurfranz set the early momentum with back-to-back kills to tie the game at five. The Owls went on a 4-0 run to take a five-point advantage and kept the lead throughout the set. The Eagles fought to make a late comeback, trailing by two points, but KSU went on a three-kill streak to solidify a 25-21 win in the second set.
SET THREE: The Eagles took a quick 4-2 lead to start the third set.
Claire Parsons had two consecutive kills to leave the Owls trailing by one, but FGCU went on a 4-0 run to take a 12-8 advantage. The Eagles led through most of the set and secured a 25-18 win to give them a two-set advantage.
SET FOUR: The Eagles jumped on an early 6-0 run to start set four and did not let up, leading by as much as 11 points throughout the set.
QUOTABLE: "Obviously, these are tough moments when your season ends. Lots of thoughts and emotions right now. Our team certainly played and fought hard enough tonight, but we just weren't able to sustain a high enough level in sets three and four. Credit to FGCU for playing super clean and executing very well in those last two sets in every area of the game. We will need to keep improving this offseason if we want to get ourselves back in a place where we're playing on Saturday night in the final. So proud of our three seniors for giving their all to this program and their teammates. It's always tough to see people's careers come to a close. Those are three women who gave so much and did so many amazing things on and off the court in their careers. We're all bummed right now, but the Owls will be back." -
KSU head coach Keith Schunzel
NOTES:
-The Owls led the court in attacks with 133 compared to the Eagles' 122.
- Johnsen led the Owls with 12 kills, five digs and an assist.
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Dani Ballou had seven kills in her final match. Her 1065 career kills ranked fourth in program history.
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Jasmine Brown finished her career with a .283-hitting percentage, which ranks fourth in program history. She finished third in total blocks with 255.
- Parsons' seven blocks moved her to second in program history with 264 in her career.
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Shelby Dennis moved into the sole possession of the fourth place in digs in program history with 1,171.
