MONTREAT, N.C. (Aug. 24, 2018) – The Truett McConnell University women's volleyball team traveled to Appalachian Athletic Conference foe Montreat College on Friday morning to face Indiana Tech University and Newberry College for day one of the Volley in the Mountains. The Lady Bears fell to Indiana Tech, a NCAA DII program, in three sets (26-24, 25-10, 25-19) and lost in another three-set battle to Newberry (25-13, 25-11, 25-22).
INDIANA TECH
"We played extremely well the first and third set," Head Coach LaKisya Killingsworth said. "Our age started to show as the match progressed. We have to do a much better job with our block and controlling the first touches."
The first set was the tightest one of the day (26-24). The Bears started out with a 9-0 run (11-4) and kept the lead until the Warriors came out from behind to tie the game at 17 apiece. Both teams went neck and neck with another tie at 21 apiece. Once Indiana Tech got out front (22-21), the Bears couldn't grab ahold of the lead again. The Warriors went on to take the first set on a kill.
Though TMU fell into a slump for the second set (25-10), the Lady Bears bounced back in game three putting up a fight (25-19).
"Our backrow defense did well but we must transition out much quicker than what we did today," Killingsworth said.
The Lady Bears earned seven team blocks in comparison to the Warriors' six. TMU was led by Jordan Henshaw with six kills, Hannah Lee with eleven digs, Abby Maxwell with 16 assists and Olivia Beasley with four block assists.
NEWBERRY COLLEGE
TMU earned the first two points of the match with a Henshaw block and a Madison Curtis kill. However, it was only up from there for the Wolves. Newberry got out front early to gain the momentum that allowed them to lead the rest of game one and all of game two. Nonetheless, the Bears came out and rallied in set three. Both teams went head to head as TMU came within one and two points on multiple occasions all the way up until 23-21 (Newberry). Despite a TMU service error (24-21), the Bears bounced back immediately with a kill (24-22), but the Wolves had a response of their own securing their 3-0 victory over the Bears with their 46th kill of the match (25-22).
UP NEXT
The Lady Bears will play two more matches in the tournament on Saturday at 8 a.m. against West Virginia University and at 2 p.m. against Asbury College. TMU is back on the road Friday-Saturday, Aug. 31-Sept. 1, for the Running Eagles Classic in Marietta, Georgia.
