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EL PASO, Texas – Kennesaw State Volleyball came up on the short end of a 3-0 loss (25-16, 25-15, 25-18) at UTEP on Friday night in Conference USA action from Memorial Gym. The loss sent the Owls to 13-15, 10-7 in league play while the Miners improved to 25-4, 15-2 in the conference.
STAT OF THE GAME: UTEP hit .481 (43K-6E-77TA) for the night while the Owls were held to just .143 (23K-13E-70TA).
THE RUNDOWN – The Owls were ready at the start, scoring five of the first seven points for a 5-2 edge. A 6-1 spurt carried the Miners to an 8-6 edge, and they extended the lead to 18-11 on the way to the 1-0 set advantage. Set two was a much tighter contest, as the score was tied at 13-13, while a kill from
Kiernan Stamey kept the Owls within 16-15. UTEP then put the set away with a 9-0 run for a 25-15 victory. The third set had the Miners ahead almost from the start, first taking a 4-2 edge and then turning it into a 16-9 advantage before sealing the set at 25-18, which gave the sweep to the host team.
POSTGAME QUOTES
KSU HEAD COACH KEITH SCHUNZEL
"There's a reason that team is having the season they are and gearing up to make a room at the tourney title. They are incredibly balanced, highly skilled, and stress you out in every phase of the game. We could never figure out how to get their setters off the net so their offense operated at will, their serve really affected us, and they definitely won in the transition game.
We had clear moments of high-level play where we read and anticipated the game at the speed necessary against that team. But clearly not enough. Another shot tomorrow."
NOTES
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Manu Johnsen's eight kills paced KSU, thought she was only one of two players to hit above .000 (with at least 10 attempts).
-This was the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
NEXT TIME OUT: KSU closes out the weekend series with the Miners on Saturday at 2 p.m.
