Box Score BRISTOL, Tenn. – Coming off of a pair of sweeps last week, the King University women's volleyball team didn't show any sign of slowing down against nonconference opponent UVa-Wise on Wednesday night in the Student Center. The Tornado earned their third straight sweep, 25-22, 25-16, 25-17 in their Student Center regular season finale to push their winning streak to three matches.
With the score knotted a nine-all in the first set, Lauren Willoughby sparked the Tornado offense with back-to-back kills. King (14-9) score two more points before the Cavaliers called for timeout. The run ended at 5-0, giving King a 14-9 lead. However, the Cavaliers (12-10) came back to tie the score at 19-19 before Brooke Calhoun dropped a kill in, and Summer Kremer served up an ace to put the Tornado back ahead as UVa-Wise called for timeout. Grace Underwood capped the 4-0 spurt with a kill before Jordan Baty ended the 25-22 set win for the Tornado with one of her three kills in the match.
King showed no sign of slowing down in the second set as Sarah Collins ignited a 4-0 run with a kill after the Cavaliers scored the first point of the set. The set was even at 10-all before Grace Underwood registered back-to-back aces to give King a three point advantage. Baty and Willoughby teamed up for consecutive kills before UVa-Wise called for timeout with King leading 16-11. Out of the break, the lead grew to 21-12 following an Olivia Underwood kill before Grace Underwood ended the 25-16 victory with her lone kills of the set.
UVa-Wise again scored the first point of the third set, but the Tornado responded by scoring five straight points to take the lead. King then held a slim 14-13 lead before Kremer got the offense going. After a point, Kremer registered a kill on King's 8-0 run that give the Tornado control of the set. Grace Underwood and Ashleigh Manke recorded kills and Olivia Underwood served up an ace on the run. Consecutive kills by Ashley Reynolds, Manke and Jordan Franklin gave King the sweep with the 25-17 third set victory.
Kremer recorded her 12th double-double of the season with a match-high 11 kills to go along with 11 digs. Payton Tipton registered a team-high 14 digs while Olivia Underwood dished out 32 assists to go along with five digs. Grace Underwood added seven kills while Collins and Olivia Underwood chipped in with six kills apiece. Collins continued her stellar play, not committing an attack error and hitting .500 for the match. Casey Williams chipped in with seven digs on the defensive end.
King will be in action again on Saturday when they travel to Lees-McRae College. First serve from Banner Elk, North Carolina is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. The Tornado fell to Lees-McRae in five sets last Tuesday in the Student Center, and the Bobcats are currently atop the Conference Carolinas North Division with a league record of 8-3 while the Tornado are 7-4.
