Burns Birmingham-Southern, Handles Hanover

Earlier today Centre notched two more volleyball wins in contests against Birmingham-Southern (25-18, 25-23, 25-20) and Hanover (25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 25-14).  The first contest was a league affair, the third successful one in four goes for the "Gold", whose record in all matches is 10-2.  This is the first season in a decade that the Colonels have achieved double digits in victories before October.  Furthermore, there is yet on the September schedule a certain-to-be difficult conference challenge at home against Millsaps tomorrow.

In the Birmingham-Southern match, although Centre was up two-zip, the Panthers took a quick 10-5 lead in game three at which point the Colonels took a timeout.  According to Head Coach James Neyhouse, "Paul" (Assistant Coach Paul Bowling) "and I reminded our troops that we needed to take better care of the ball, and to take advantage of the opportunities that we were creating."  Inspired or not, the players complied.

Compliance was well spread, as has been the happy case for Centre in its recent successes.  Suzanne Asbury, the junior from Louisville, KY, had six blocks and five kills (and hit .333), senior Catherine Janszen (Cincinnati, OH) balanced her blocks and kills at five, and dug three balls; and her classmate Lydia Prevost (Knoxville, TN) blocked twice and killed four times.  Fellow senior Kimberly Lownds (Evergreen, CO) hit .429 with three digs and a like number of kills, the latter number matched by versatile junior Celia Moser (Troy, OH), who added a block, three assists, and six digs.  Beth Cecil, the sophomore hitter from Bardstown, KY, complemented another fine offensive presentation (four kills) with five digs and three most welcome blocks.

Sophomore Paige Poggemeier provided 11 digs while senior setter Kary Stivers (Louisville, KY) contributed four along with six assists.  Her sophomore counterpart, Elizabeth Janszen (Cincinnati, OH) showed five and 10, respectively.

Two service aces came from Erin McGrath, the sophomore from Louisville, KY.  Catherine Janszen and Poggemeier added one apiece.

Against Hanover, the "Gold" won for the second time this fall in four games.  However, on neither occasion did the Panthers quit before the final ball fell.

Asbury led in blocks with six, two more than Prevost.  Jessica Peak, the sophomore from Owensboro, KY, supplied three.

Catherine Janszen generated 13 kills, and a hitting average of .385.  Prevost's corresponding numbers were 12 and .526, Cecil's 11 and .214, and Asbury's six and .312.  Lownds played well while she had a couple of kills and an average of .333, and freshman Jasmine Cline-Bailey (Cincinnati, OH) celebrated her first court appearance for Centre with identical numbers.

Poggemeier continued being stingy on defense with 23 digs; and Catherine Janszen added 11, Stivers 10, and McGrath seven.  Asbury and McGrath each aced the Panthers twice, and Catherine Janszen and Stivers once apiece.

Looking at the Sunday match (11:00 A.M.), Coach Neyhouse reminisced (not so fondly) "Millsaps played pretty well against us last year, if you consider beating us in all three matches 'playing pretty well'.  Obviously we must do better, much better, against them.  The hard part of that proposition is that Millsaps is not likely to be willing to give us anything; so it will be our obligation to continue to execute."