STATESBORO, Ga. – Olivia Burrage became Kennesaw State volleyball's all-time career blocks leader Friday evening as the Owls rolled past Fordham 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-22) in the Eagle Invitational on the Georgia Southern campus.
STAT OF THE GAME
The Owls controlled the match from the service line with 10 aces while holding Fordham to a .071 hitting percentage. KSU hit .275 overall, highlighted by a blistering .481 performance in the second set.
OWL OF THE GAME
Burrage entered the match with 366 career blocks and broke the previous KSU record of 367 with her second block of the night. She finished with four blocks to raise her career total to 370.
Burrage also delivered offensively, recording eight kills on 13 attacks with only one error for a match-high .538 hitting percentage.
THE RUNDOWN
After Fordham pulled even at 8-8 in the opening set, Kennesaw State used an 11-4 run to seize control with a 19-12 advantage. Ashley Theiss closed the frame with consecutive service aces to give the Owls a 25-17 victory.
KSU delivered its cleanest offensive performance of the night in the second set. The Owls turned an early 3-2 advantage into an 11-3 lead and continued to pull away, collecting 16 kills with only three errors on 27 attacks. Burrage's record-breaking block helped KSU build a 22-10 advantage before the Owls closed out the set, 25-15.
The Owls carried the momentum into the final frame, racing out to leads of 7-1 and 17-9. Fordham responded with a late 9-1 run to cut KSU's advantage to 22-21, but the Owls answered with three of the final four points to complete the sweep.
QUOTABLE – HEAD COACH KEITH SCHUNZEL
"The first two-and-a-half sets of that match were probably the cleanest we've played all year outside of set one against Georgia.
"If and when we can find that rhythm, stay relaxed, play free and compete our tails off on defense, we have an excellent team that will continue to grow and do good things this fall.
"When we play stressed, lose intensity, don't communicate and are passive, we have struggled.
"I really enjoy watching and coaching this team when we're in the right mindset. I have to continue to figure out how myself and our staff can help our women get to that place more often because today showed what this group is capable of.
"Looking forward to an extremely competitive matchup with UNF tomorrow to finish out non-conference play."
NOTES
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Friday's victory marked Kennesaw State's fifth sweep of the season.
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KSU held Fordham below .100 hitting in all three sets.
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The Owls finished with 10 service aces from six different players.
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Haley Patterson led KSU with 12 points behind nine kills and three aces.
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Theiss added nine kills, two aces and one block assist.
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Ashlyn Anderson collected six kills without an attack error, hitting .429.
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Kourtney Brown handed out a match-high 20 assists, while Kaeley Walz added 10.
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Alexis Sowers paced the Owls with eight digs.
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Kennesaw State improved to 6-5 with the victory.
NEXT TIME OUT
Kennesaw State closes out nonconference play Saturday against North Florida at 3 p.m.
