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EL PASO, Texas – Kennesaw State Volleyball, who claimed just one All-Conference USA selection despite a top-four regular season finish, showed exactly what their opinion on that was as the fourth-seeded Owls blasted out of the gates with a huge first set win and then rallied for a 3-2 (25-15, 25-27, 25-14, 25-19, 15-12) victory over the fifth-seed Middle Tennessee squad and its four all-conference players on Friday night in the CUSA Quarterfinals. The two biggest snubs from the Owls, middle blocker
Olivia Burrage and right-side hitter
Kiernan Stamey, both hit over .400 and combined for 33 kills and 12 total blocks in the victory.
OWL OF THE GAME: Johnsen finished with her fifth 20+ kill game of the season, as she posted 21 kills and 11 digs for a double-double. She also added four blocks and hit .318 from the floor.
STAT OF THE GAME: The Owls had two of their best sets of the season, hitting .433 in set one and .350 in set four, while finishing at .250 in set 5.
THE RUNDOWN – KSU made it look easy at the start, using an 8-0 run to go up 9-1, and the Owls cruised from there for a 1-0 set lead. In set 2 the Owls led the majority of the way and were up 19-15. The Blue Raiders then changed the momentum of the match with a 5-0 run to go up 20-19. The set was tied six more times, until two straight points gave MTSU the set and tied the match at 1-1. KSU struggled in set three, hitting just .071 while falling 25-19. The Owls wouldn't back down though, starting set 4 with a 4-0 run. The Blue Raiders fought back, and were within 12-11 when two straight Burrage kills sparked a 5-0 run to put KSU up 17-11. The Owls closed out the set to force a fifth deciding set. The final set was a set of runs, and a 4-0 run put MTSU up 9-5. KSU came back with a 5-1 run to tie the set at 10-10. After the Blue Raiders scored twice, KSU closed out the set and the match with a 5-0 run, capped by Johnsen's 21
st kill of the night.
POSTGAME QUOTES
KSU HEAD COACH KEITH SCHUNZEL
"Tonight was fitting with how this season has gone for us. So many Ups and downs, injuries aplenty, a super young roster, and all sorts of challenges. But through it all these women just kept fighting. This team has done nothing but grow all fall, show resilience time and time again, and stick together, and I'm so dang proud of them.
We didn't talk about it one time as a team leading up to this, but how perfect that Liv and Kiernan played matches like that after getting completely snubbed from all conference and all freshmen awards. It's absurd to finish fourth and get only one player honored with the years those two had. But at the end of the day, they made their statements with their play, and they were certainly strong statements, and we'll take the win and move on to the semis.
That's not only the first ever CUSA tourney win for KSU, but also 10 straight years of a semifinal finish or better for our volleyball program. That's an incredibly hard feat and something our players and staff are so proud of."
NOTES
-KSU has now advanced to the semifinals of a conference tournament for the 10
th straight season, after reaching the Atlantic Sun semifinals the previous nine years.
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Kourtney Brown led the Owls with 25 assists, while
Kaeley Walz finished with 23 assists and 11 digs.
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Leah Freeman just missed on her first double-double of the year with a season-high nine assists to go along with 10 digs.
-Burrage's seven total blocks were a team-high.
NEXT TIME OUT: The Owls will face top-seeded Western Kentucky in the semifinals on Saturday in a 2 pm (ET) contest that will be streamed live on ESPN+.
