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KENNESAW, Ga. – A new career milestone for Kennesaw State's
Manu Johnsen highlighted the afternoon as the junior led the Owls to a 3-1 victory (25-17, 16-25, 25-21, 25-22) over Sam Houston on Saturday in Conference USA volleyball action from the Convocation Center. The win split the weekend series between the two, moving both teams to 6-4 in league play.
OWL OF THE GAME: Johnsen became the fastest player to ever hit 1,000 career kills at Kennesaw State, as she surpassed the mark with her fourth kill of the day, giving her the mark in her 76
th career game for the Black and Gold. She finished with another double-double thanks to a 14 kills and 16 digs. She also added three aces while posting a .400 hitting percentage.
STAT OF THE GAME: KSU came up big on the blocks, recording ten for the game while Sam Houston finished with just four team blocks in the contest.
THE RUNDOWN – As it did on Friday, the Owls cruised to a first set win, as after the Bearkats took a 5-4 lead, KSU scored the next four and didn't trail again in the set. The lead grew as high as nine twice in the set before they finished off the eight-point win for a 1-0 set lead. Set 2 was the opposite for the Owls, who quickly fell behind 7-2 and never threated in the set.
Tied at 1-1, the Owls grabbed an early 7-3 lead in set 3. The Bearkats came back to tie the set, and took a 16-15 lead before a kill from
Maggie Byrd started a 4-0 run for KSU for a 19-16 advantage. The Owls would claim the set 25-21 for a 2-1 advantage. The fourth set was in Sam Houston's favor for the majority of the first half, as the Bearkats led by three several times, the last at 10-7.
Olivia Burrage sparked the game-changing rally for KSU, as during a 7-1 run she posted three kills and a block to push the Owls to a 14-11 advantage. The lead grew to 21-14, before Sam Houston made a rally, closing within 23-22 thanks to a 3-0 spurt. The Owls closed off the set and the match, scoring the final point on a block from Byrd and
Maggie Butkovich for the victory.
POSTGAME QUOTES
KSU HEAD COACH KEITH SCHUNZEL
"That's a big win for this team. Sam Houston has a lot of weapons across the board and as we found out yesterday they put a ton of pressure on you in a lot of phases of the game. After how yesterday went for our team, the game today was enormously important in both the standings and in our team mentality. The main difference from last night to today was our response after another lackluster set 2. Today we stayed steady emotionally and maintained a level of composure and execution. I was really proud of our growth and maturity there. Manu bounced back and had a huge game. Liv dominated her third game in a row in the middle. And I thought Leah (Freeman) played the best volleyball of her career in the libero jersey this weekend. Awesome presence, great second ball setting, defensive plays, cover balls, passing. I thought she was our best and most consistent player all weekend."
NOTES
-Burrage joined Johnsen in double-figures for kills with 10 to go along with four blocks.
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Kourtney Brown paced KSU with 24 assists, while Freeman had a team-high 19 digs.
-Johnsen currently has 1,010 kills in her career, rankings her eighth all-time in the KSU record book.
NEXT TIME OUT: The Owls will head down to the Sunshine State to take on the FIU Panthers in a two-game series. The first game is slotted for Friday, Oct. 25 with a 6 p.m. start, followed by a Saturday, Oct. 27 game at 1 p.m.
