Box Score BRISTOL, Tenn. – It's not always easy to win championships, but playing in front of your home fans can help teams dig out of a hole and find that extra bit of energy to come out with a win. The Student Center Complex crowd helped the King University women's volleyball team comeback from down 14-10 in the final set of Tuesday night's Conference Carolinas match against Barton College. King staved off four set points, and Casey Williams gave King the 3-2 victory with her only ace of the match, giving the Tornado the edge over Barton for the Conference Carolinas North Division title with one match remaining.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: King 3, Barton 2 (25-21, 25-27, 16-25, 25-19, 16-14)
LOCATION: Student Center Complex, Bristol, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 17-12, 10-5 Conference Carolinas, Baron 14-11, 9-6 Conference Carolinas
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Following the seventh tie of the first set, at 19, King scored three straight points, the final on a Grace Underwood to take a 22-19 lead. Barton then scored a point, but Ashton Beckner tallied one for King with a kill. Lauren Willoughby then gave King the 25-21 victory with a pair of kills.
- Barton rebounded to take the second set, but the Tornado made things interesting. King scored four straight points to even the tally at 17-17 before staving off four set points to even the set at 24-24. However, Barton scored the final two points to take the set 27-25.
- King jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the third set, but Barton came back and got within 8-5 before the Bulldog offense got going. The Bulldogs scored six straight points before King took a timeout. Following a Tornado point, the Bulldogs rolled off five more points to take a 16-9 lead as they took the set 25-16.
- The Tornado offense then posted their best offensive set of the match in the fourth, hitting .361 in the frame with only four attack errors. Cathy Scaniffe came off the bench and gave King a spark, accounting for eight kills in the set.
- King used a 5-0 run to take a 10-6 lead following an Underwood ace. The Tornado then extended their lead to 20-15 following a pair of Willoughby as King took the set 25-19.
- Barton grabbed the momentum early in the fifth set, taking a 5-0 lead to force a King timeout. The Bulldog lead grew to 8-1 before King started to work their way back. Beckner and Underwood pulled King within 9-6 with a block. King then got within 10-9 before Barton scored four of the next five points to take a 14-10 lead.
- Setter Haley Roe then started setting Willoughby who accounted for five straight kills, helping King stave off four set points and give King a 15-14 lead. Williams then gave King the 16-14 come-from-behind win with her lone service ace of the match.
- Willoughby led King with 26 kills and 16 digs for the double-double. She only made nine errors on 63 attempts for a .270 attack percentage.
- Scaniffe and Underwood followed with 11 kills apiece. Scaniffe hit .409, making two errors on 22 attempts.
- Olivia Underwood dished out 29 assists, and Roe handed out 19 helpers to go along with nine digs over the final three sets.
- On the defensive end, Amy Serowski posted 23 digs while Angela Boudavong posted 10 digs.
- At the net, Sarah Collins led King with five blocks and Beckner added four stuffs.
FOR THE FOES
- Kaitlyn Kedzialed led Barton with 18 kills to go along with 17 digs for the double-double.
- Setter Angelica Acevedo posted a team-high 20 digs and dished out 37 assists.
- Kaitly Micol and Hayley Marshburn reached double figures in digs as well with 14 and 12, respectively.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The win gives King a one game lead over Barton with one match to play in the Conference Carolinas North Division. If the Tornado defeat the University of Mount Olive on Saturday King will win their second straight north division title.
- For Willoughby the double-double is her team-high 10th double-double of the season.
- Willoughby also set a career-high with 26 digs and matched a career-high with 16 digs, a mark she set last week at UVa-Wise.
- Serowski came within one of a career-high with 23 digs.
- Boudavong matched a career-best with 10 digs.
UP NEXT
- King takes on Mount Olive at 2:00 p.m. in the Student Center Complex on Saturday afternoon in the final regular season home match.
- Barton travels to Lees-McRae College on Saturday afternoon to conclude Conference Carolinas play.
