HICKORY, N.C.- The Valdosta State Volleyball team began its 2023 campaign in the Lenoir-Rhyne Tournament Friday afternoon with a pair of opening day matchups against Lenoir-Rhyne and Mount Olive. The Blazers took the first match against Lenoir-Rhyne 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 18-25, 25-21) before falling to Mount Olive in the nightcap 3-2 (22-25, 25-22, 24-26, 25-22, 13-15).
Match #1: Valdosta State at Lenoir-Rhyne
Match Information
Score: Valdosta State 3, Lenoir-Rhyne 1 (25-20, 25-18, 18-25, 25-21)
Records: VSU (1-0), LR (0-1)
Location: Hickory, N.C. (Lenoir-Rhyne University)
First Set:
The Blazer Volleyball team came out firing in their first set of the 2023 season as graduate student Mallory Roney and junior Christina Pettigrew delivered the first kills of the year. Roney then tacked on a service ace and Lenoir-Rhyne suffered an attack error to put the Blazers up early 4-1. The Blazers and Bears traded blows back and forth until VSU went on a 4-1 run, forcing Lenoir-Rhyne to take its first timeout as the Blazers led 14-11. Valdosta State continued its attack, tacking on five more points, but Lenoir-Rhyne stayed in the matchup, tallying six points to force the Blazers to take their first timeout as VSU led, 19-17. The time out benefited the Blazers as a kill from junior Audrey Bennett and a Bear attack error gave Valdosta State the first set, 25-20. The Blazers and Bears both tallied 12 kills each, but the big difference in the game came with the Bears suffering eight attack errors compared to the Blazers five.
Second Set:
The beginning of the second set looked a lot like the first set with the Blazers and Bears trading blows back and forth. A kill from Pettigrew put VSU up 10-7 as Valdosta State held the advantage in kills 7-4. The Blazers tried to pull away on a 5-4 run as Lenoir-Rhyne called a timeout with Valdosta State leading 15-11. Out of the break, the Blazers continued their attack with a 4-2 run to go up six as sophomore Katie Callenberger tacked on back-to-back kills in the offensive barrage, 19-13. The Bears continued to cut into the Blazer lead, coming within three as a pair of kills caused VSU to take a timeout, 20-17. The Blazers came out of the timeout on a 5-1 run to win their second set, 25-18. VSU scored a blistering 18 kills in the second set, hitting an impressive .455 while Lenoir-Rhyne tallied 11 kills, hitting .226.
Third Set:
The Bears went on a 5-2 run to open the third set, capitalized by a Bear service ace. Lenoir-Rhyne stayed on the attack going up four, 7-3, before Valdosta State called the first timeout of the set. Out of the break, the Blazers raced back to bring the set within one, 10-9, behind a Lenoir-Rhyne attack error. However, the Bears continued to stay in front as a kill from Lenoir-Rhyne's Kalee Peter put the Bears up 15-11. The Blazers tried to chip away, but Lenoir-Rhyne stayed resilient in holding its lead, 19-14 as Valdosta State called its second timeout of the set. The Bears closed out the set on a 6-4 run to take only set of the match, 25-18. The Blazers had nine kills and eight attack errors in the third set, hitting .029 while the Bears had 14 kills and five attack errors for .273.
Fourth Set:
The Blazers started from behind in the fourth set as Lenoir-Rhyne scored two kills to take the early three-point lead, 5-2. However, the Blazers struck back on a 5-2 run to tie the game up at 7-7 behind a Lenoir-Rhyne miscue. VSU then took its first lead of the set as junior Kaia Baker delivered a kill to put the Blazers up 9-8 before the Blazers scored two more to increase their lead, 11-8. The Bears called their first timeout of the set as the Blazer offense continued to strike, scoring four points out of the break, 15-10. However, the Bears roared back on a 7-3 run, coming within one of VSU, 18-17. With the Bears biting at their heels, the Blazers etched out a 7-4 run as Pettigrew delivered one final kill to take the hard-fought fourth set and the match, 25-21.
Inside the Numbers:
The Blazers finished the match with 54 kills and 22 errors as the team hit .229 for the match. Lenoir-Rhyne recorded 47 kills with 24 miscues, hitting .162 for the match. Pettigrew and Junior Mackenzie Murray led the Blazers in kills with 12 each and Roney had 11 kills of her own while junior Giulia Dias recorded a match-high 24 assists. Lenoir-Rhyne had 11 kills from Cheyenne Clonch while Rachel Wildermuth had a team-high 20 assists.
Match #2: Valdosta State vs. Mount Olive
Match Information
Score: UMO 3, VSU 2 (22-25, 25-22, 24-26, 25-22, 13-15)
Records: UMO (1-1), VSU (1-1)
Location: Hickory, N.C. (Lenoir-Rhyne University)
First Set:
In the second game of the day, the Blazers came out of the gates hot taking a 6-3 lead, capped off with a kill from Murray. However, the Trojans struck back on a 4-1 run to tie things up at 7-7. Mount Olive continued to strike, going up 9-7 before the Blazers fought back as VSU took a 12-9 lead on a service ace from Baker. A pair of kills from Smith caused UMO to take its first timeout of the match as Valdosta State led by four, 16-12. Coming out of the break, the Trojans struck back with a commanding 5-1 run to tie the game up once again at 17-17 as the Blazers took their first timeout of the match. Valdosta quickly scored three before Mount Olive called its second timeout of the set as the Blazers led 20-18. The Trojans then tallied three more points of their own, bringing the score to 21-21 as VSU called its second timeout. With both teams trading blows, Mount Olive pulled away, going on a 4-1 run to take the first set, 25-22.
Second Set:
The Blazers rushed out to a 5-0 lead as Roney delivered back-to-back kills to kick off the set. Mount Olive called the first timeout of the set as the Blazers went on an 8-6 run, capped off with a kill from Murray to keep VSU in front, 13-6. The Trojans roared back to bring the score closer on a 10-4 run as VSU held a narrow lead, 17-16. The Blazers and Trojans continued to battle to the wire, but Valdosta State came out on top, pulling away to take a 25-22 set two victory to level the sets.
Third Set:
Mount Olive raced out to a 5-1 lead to begin the third set of the match. The Trojans then took a 10-3 lead on the Blazers as Valdosta State called its first timeout of the set. UMO did not let up, going on a mini 4-0 run as VSU called its second timeout of the set, 14-3. The Blazers stayed resilient going on a 7-3, cutting the UMO lead to 17-10. The Blazers continued to fight, bringing the set within six as the Trojans used a timeout up 21-15. With the set coming down to the wire, the Blazers continued their assault, tying UMO score at 24-24. Despite fighting back tooth-and-nail, the Blazers came up just short at the end of the third set, 26-24.
Fourth Set:
The Blazers and Trojans picked up where they left off in the third set, trading blows back and forth. However, a kill from Mount Olive's Ashlyn Stone capped off an 8-1 run in favor of the Spartans as UMO led 9-3. Following a VSU timeout, The Blazers fought back scoring five, coming within three of the Trojans, 11-8. Like clockwork, Valdosta State ended up taking the lead on a kill from sophomore Gaby Ortiz, 13-12. The Trojans then called a timeout before Valdosta State went on a 6-4 run capitalized with a kill from Murray to give VSU the three-point lead, 19-16. The set came down to the wire, but a Trojan attack error gave the Blazers the final point and the set four victory, 25-22.
Fifth Set:
In the final set of the match, the Blazers and Trojans sat tied at 4-4, before Mount Olive began to break away on a 3-0 run to go up 7-4. Following a Blazer time out, Valdosta State stormed back, bringing the set within one, 9-8, behind a crucial kill from Roney. UMO tried to pull away once again, going up 13-9 but the Blazers continued to fight, bringing the set within one once again 14-13 following a kill by Bennett. Despite a fighting effort, the Trojans scored the final point of the set on a VSU attack error, winning set five 15-13 and taking a hard-fought match 3-2.
Inside the Numbers:
The Blazers finished the match with 59 kills and 34 attack errors as the team hit .129 for the match. Mount Olive recorded 54 kills with 35 miscues, hitting .104 for the match. Murray led the Blazers in kills with 16 and Roney had 12 kills of her own while Bennett recorded a team-high 21 assists. The Trojans had 12 kills from Ashlyn Stone while Lyndsay Reid had a game-high 29 assists.
Up Next:
VSU is set to face Converse in its final match in the Lenoir-Rhyne tournament Saturday, September 2 at 12 p.m., versus Converse, before returning home to host Middle Georgia State in the 2023 home-opener on Tuesday, September 5 at 6 p.m. Fans can access links to live stats, audio/video streaming, ticket information and more at vstateblazers.com on the volleyball schedule page.
