BRISTOL, Tenn. – The King University women's volleyball team opened the Conference Carolinas Women's Volleyball Championship with a sweep in the second round of the tournament. King is the West Division No. 3 seed as the Tornado defeated West Division No. 5 seed Converse University 3-0 on Saturday evening.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: West No. 3 King 3, West No. 5 Converse 0 (25-19, 25-20, 26-24)
LOCATION: Student Center Complex; Bristol, Tenn.
RECORDS: King 15-15; Converse 9-19
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- The Tornado got off to a hot start, scoring six straight points to take a 6-1 lead. Abigale Jayne started the run with a kill before a block from Katie Harless and Abigail Belcher.
- Gabri Puertas accounted for an ace on the run as well.
- Converse fought back and evened the set at nine as the teams began to trade points.
- The Tornado pulled away with an 8-0 spurt, started with three straight kills from Belcher, Jayne and Gracia Love.
- Back-to-back kills from Love gave King a 19-12 advantage to cap the run.
- A Zephanie Snyder kill gave King a chance at set point as King took the opening set 25-19.
Second Set
- Converse jumped out to a 4-2 lead, but King came back with four straight points, three coming on a Hailee Blankenship kill, a block from Jayne and Belcher and another Puertas ace.
- Four consecutive kills for the Tornado from Kara Miller, Jayne and two from Blankenship gave King a 10-5 lead.
- Converse chipped away at the deficit and evened the tally at 16 before taking a 17-16 lead when the Tornado went on another run.
- Love started the 3-0 run with a kill before a block from Belcher and Blankenship gave King a 19-17 lead.
- Back-to-back kills from Blankenship gave King a chance at set point before the Tornado took the set 25-20.
Third Set
- The teams went back-and-forth in the early going of the third set before King took a 16-13 lead on back-to-back kills from Jayne and Blankenship.
- However, Converse answered with a 5-1 run, including four straight to take an 18-17 lead.
- A Love kill followed by a block from Snyder and Belcher gave the lead back to the Tornado.
- King later took a 22-19 lead following a Lydia Buchanan kill and ace from Harless.
- However, four straight Converse points gave the Valkyries a 23-22 lead as the teams began to trade points.
- King held off one set point as a Jayne kill started a 3-0 king run.
- Blankenship gave King the 26-24 win with back-to-back kills also giving King the 3-0 victory.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Blankenship and Jayne led King with 10 kills apiece while Blankenship posted seven digs.
- Love added eight kills.
- Defensively, Belcher posted eight block assists while Claire Wilson led the back row with 19 digs.
- Puertas added 11 digs while Harless handed out 19 assists.
FOR THE FOES
- Jasmine Finkley led Converse with nine kills and two blocks.
- Evelyn Fitz added seven kills and 16 digs while Megan Carpenter also accounted for seven kills.
- Mackenzie Day led the back row with 22 digs while Savannah Ducote posted 14 assists and 11 digs.
UP NEXT
- King advances to take on East Division No. 2 seed, University of Mount Olive on Friday night.
- First serve from UNC Pembroke in Pembroke, N.C. is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
