SAVANNAH, Ga. ? For the first time in four seasons, the Eagles volleyball team claimed victory over the SCAD Bees, winning in four-sets on the road (25-20, 25-15, 21-25, 25-23).
The 17th win of the 2008 season for the Eagles puts them atop of The Sun Conference standings, moving to 7-1 in league play. SCAD's record moves to 11-7 overall and 7-2 in conference play.
The Bees jumped to an early 4-0 lead in set one, but a series of service aces by
Abby Hall allowed the Eagles to reclaim the lead, pulling ahead 5-4. Hall had three service aces in the Eagles early comeback. Two rotations later,
Jenni Nelsen picked up her sole ace of the game putting the eagles up by two. SCAD came back to within one point multiple times in the set but never grabbed the lead, as the Eagles won 25-20.
In the second set, the Eagles produced a 0.75 side out percentage, taking the ball back in 12 of SCAD's 16 attempts from behind the service line. ERAU tallied 14 kills in the set, hitting .429 compared to SCAD's .134 hitting percentage.
In the third set, the Bee's middle hitter, Kendall Nichols had five of SCAD's 14 kills to aid her team to the 25-21 set victory.
Set four began the same as the first set, with the Eagles down for the first four points but Hall led the drive to tie the game at 5. SCAD began to pull away after the score was separated by two at 14-12. The Bees went up by as much as five points but a key timeout by Eagles' Head Coach
Joslynn Gallop stole the home team's momentum and produced a key side out on a kill by Nelsen. Back-to-back-to-back kills by
Savannah Trakes, Hall and
Alana Martinez tied the game at 18. The lead went back and forth until the score was tied at 23. The Eagles went up 24-23 on a solo block by Hall and the match was captured on an assisted block by
Marissa Gonzales and
Corey Dobridnia.
Hall marked 17 kills, 15 digs and six service aces. Trakes hit .478 in the match with 12 kills in 23 attempts, she also had three service aces and eight digs. The Eagles middle hitters combined for 14 kills with Martinez marking eight and Dobridnia with six. Nelsen ended the match with eight kills, while Gonzales had 46 assists in the match.
The Blue and Gold will step on the court again on Saturday at noon in Jacksonville, Fla. against Edward Waters.
