Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 by Kevin Buczek
BANNER ELK, N.C.-Freshman libero Amanda Grandy (Rolesville, N.C.) recorded 13 digs twice on Saturday but host Lees-McRae College and Southeast Region foe UNC Pembroke were both able to defeat the Barton College women's volleyball team by matching 3-0 scores.
Barton finishes its season-starting, nine-match road swing with a 4-5 record and will try and even its overall mark to .500 in its home opener on Wednesday. The Bulldogs will host the Knights of St. Andrews Presbyterian College at 7 p.m.
The Bulldogs offense was held to under 10-percent hitting accuracy in each contest at Williams Gymnasium. LMC and UNCP each served up 11 aces against Barton.
FIRST MATCH: Lees-McRae 3, Barton 0
The reigning Conference Carolinas champions and preseason favorites started the day with an early 25-17, 25-23, 25-18 conquest of Barton. Lees-McRae remained undefeated in the league at 3-0 while Barton stayed winless at 0-2. The Bobcats added 3-0 wins against UNCP and Concord that afternoon to improve to 7-6 overall.
Every Bulldog hitters were held to five or less kills. Junior Kati Wood (Pasadena, Md.) paced the visitors with five spikes. Sophomore Jordan Lee (Wilson, N.C.) and freshman Melissa Cochran (Knightdale, N.C.) each added four kills. Cochran sent back a match-high five blocks.
Grandy had 13 assists, followed by senior Meredith Thompson's (Henderson, N.C.) six. Freshman setter Meka Hoover (Seagrove, N.C.) totaled a team-high 17 assists.
Barton held reigning Conference Carolinas Player of the Week Taylor Clendenin to seven kills and made her commit five errors but the Bobcats received 12 kills from Megan Epperson and nine spikes from Lauren Fox. Megan Mitchell had 38 assists and Sariah Suryadevara had 16 digs.
Barton head coach Jim Freeman said, "Lees-McRae did a great job in their service game. They had 11 aces and forced us into a season-low serve receive average of 1.85 [on a 3.0 scale]. As a result, we couldn't get much going offensively. They're a strong team and will certainly contend for another league title."
SECOND MATCH: UNC Pembroke 3, Barton 0
Hoover had a 22-assist, 10-dig double-double for Barton but the University of North Carolina at Pembroke made 62 digs en route to a 25-15, 25-23, 25-16 sweep Saturday afternoon. The Braves improved to 5-6 with the victory.
Wood once again led the Bulldogs attack with six kills while matching Grandy with 13 digs. Cochran and junior Meredith Watkins (Oxford, N.C.) ripped five kills apiece.
The Bulldogs attempted to even the match in the second set as a junior Shanae Winston (Wendell, N.C.) kill provided Barton with a 14-9 lead at the midway point but UNCP finished the frame with a 16-9 rally.
Barton did not have an ace against the Braves. Allie Schneider led UNC Pembroke with 12 kills, Marissa Baker totaled 28 digs and Heather Bolwerk tallied 25 assists.
Coach Freeman concluded, "UNCP did a great job serving, they had 11 aces and a strong defensive performance held us to a .085 hitting percentage. We've got a lot of volleyball left to play and we'll continue to work hard and improve."
