NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - The Centre volleyball team pushed the Eastern Eagles to the brink as the Colonels played their fourth five-set match in the last three weeks. This one went to the Eagles as Centre enters the postseason with a 16-12 overall record.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
- The opening set was tightly contested the entire way, with multiple lead changes and ties. The Colonels trailed 17-12 midway through and faced a set point at 24-20, but Centre staged a furious rally, tying the score on a pair of aces from
Kendra Christopher. With it anybody's set now, Centre regained the lead at 25-24 and another ace from Christopher gave the Colonels a 26-24 win.
- Both teams continued to go back and forth in the second set as neither team was able to lead by more than three until the end, when Eastern scored the final four points to win 25-19 to even the match.
- The third set featured more of the same as the lead changed hands eight times. The Colonels led 18-17 before the Eagles scored eight of the last ten points to get the win by a score of 25-20.
- In the fourth set, the Colonels used an 8-1 run to break up a close matchup and take a 20-14 lead. Eastern could get no closer than four points the rest of the way as Christopher delivered the clinching kill on a 25-17 victory for Centre.
- Centre got off to another good hot start in the fifth set as they took a 7-5 lead, but Eastern outscored the Colonels 10-3 the rest of the way to win the set and the match with a 15-10 victory.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
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Syd Bietz led the Colonels with 21 kills, with rookies Christopher and
Elise Grundy each recording career highs with respective totals of 14 and 10 kills.
- Three different players finished in double digits in digs, led by Bietz with 20.
NEXT UP
The Colonels secured the no. 5 seed in the upcoming Southern Athletic Association Tournament and will face the no. 4 seed Sewanee on Nov. 13 in Atlanta.
