BELMONT, N.C. – The King University women's volleyball team defeated the Belmont Abbey Crusaders by a score of 3-1 on Wednesday evening.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: King 3 – Belmont Abbey 1 (25-19, 25-16, 20-25, 25-18)
LOCATION: Wheeler Center, Belmont, N.C.
RECORDS: King 6-8, 4-6 Conference Carolinas | Belmont Abbey 6-14, 4-7 Conference Carolinas
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set
- Riley Nelson scored the first point of the match with a kill before Belmont Abbey got a five-point lead.
- King rallied and got within a point on another Nelson kill.
- The Crusaders expanded their lead back to five at 17-12. King took a timeout to regroup before coming back in the first set scoring 13 points and allowing Belmont Abbey to score just twice. The Tornado had two six-point rallies in that time.
- Riley Nelson, Bailey Fersner, and Izzy Krick each had three kills and Gabri Puertas had an ace.
Second Set
- Nelson got the Tornado rolling again in the second set. She had two kills in the first four points as King never trailed in the second set.
- Back-to-back kills from Gracia Love made the score 15-6 in favor of King and forced Belmont Abbey to take a timeout.
- King took their first double-digit lead with another Love kill at 20-10. The Crusaders scored the next four in a row, but King finished the second set victory with back-to-back kills from Nelson and Fersner.
- Fersner tallied 5 kills as Nelson and Love each had 4 to lead the Tornado offense in the second set.
- Love and Amaya Hall each registered an ace. Defensively Krick had 1.5 blocks.
Third Set
- Belmont Abbey led the first half of the third set. The two teams traded points and had the score tied 8 times.
- A late kill by Princess Emma Oluwa closed the Belmont Abbey lead to three at 20-23, but the Crusaders took the third set.
- The Tornado had five different players register at least one kill. Hall and Love each had an ace and Krick had 2 block assists on the front line.
Fourth Set
- Zephanie Synder scored the first four of what would be the final set. The fourth set was marked with multiple scoring rallies from both teams, however King took the lead for good on a Nelson kill at 10-9.
- Synder sealed the win with a kill.
- Gracia Love led the offense with four kills in the final set. Synder, Capri Johnson, Nelson, and Oluwa were the only other offensive scorers with each getting three. The Tornado had a total of 16 kills in the set compared to the 8 scored by the Crusaders.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
FOR THE FOES
- Lola Sultenfuss led the offense with 16 kills. Ella Schellenberg had all but one of the 34 assists for the Crusaders.
- Riley Nickol had three service aces and Lily Marsh had 16 digs.
- Chloe Lowder had 3.5 blocks.
UP NEXT
The King University women's volleyball team will return home on Saturday, Oct. 26 for a 2 p.m. match against Erskine.
