CLINTON, Miss. – The Valdosta State volleyball team (5-11) knocked off the Mississippi College Choctaws (7-11) in four sets on Friday evening in Clinton. The Blazers claimed their fourth win over a Gulf South Conference opponent this season to move to 4-3 in conference play.
The Choctaws opened the set with the first point on a block. The Blazers fired back with a nine-point scoring run highlighted by kills from senior
Sabrina Oncins (2), junior
Asia Montagnani (2), and graduate
Macy Brown. Brown also put down a pair of service aces during the run. A pair of MC errors would push the VSU advantage to 11-2 early.
Senior
Katie Callenberger kept the offense rolling with a pair of kills. Montagnani added another and after a service ace from junior
Hailey Holder, the Blazers led 16-6. Sophomore
Eva LaRochelle put down a kill while Oncins and Callenberger each added their third of the set. A Choctaw error made it 21-14 Blazers.
LaRochelle stepped up for an emphatic block to add to the lead. Oncins continued her big set with another kill, and an error moved the Blazers within set point. Finally, senior
Ava Young and sophomore
Avery Mullins teamed up for a block to win the frame 25-15.
Audrianna Green opened the second set with a kill for Mississippi College. Oncins responded with her own kill, then an MC error made it 2-1 VSU. The next three Blazer kills came from Montagnani. Another kill from LaRochelle gave VSU its seventh point but the team trailed 8-7. A Choctaw run pushed their advantage to 12-7.
Young and Oncins knocked down one kill each then worked together for a block. Several MC errors cut the deficit to 13-12. Another strong run from the Choctaw offense pushed them ahead 18-12, but VSU fired back with four straight points behind kills from Callenberger, Oncins, and Montagnani.
Oncins served an ace, but Mississippi College still led 20-18 late in the set. Young put away another kill and the Blazers benefitted from several Choctaw errors, but Mississippi College ultimately claimed the second set 25-22.
The Choctaws recorded an error, then Brown dropped back-to-back aces to give the Blazers a 3-0 lead to open the third set. Kills from Young and Mullins made it 6-3 early. Mississippi College strung together several kills before an error started a four-point Blazer run highlighted by kills from Young, Oncins, and LaRochelle, 10-5 Blazers.
Mississippi College cut the deficit to 10-7 but then a service error would open a six-point Blazer run. LaRochelle punched down a kill and Mullins served an ace on the run. The other four points of the run resulted from Choctaw errors. LaRochelle and Montagnani put down a kill each, 18-8 Blazers.
Young and Oncins worked together for another combined block before a service error pushed the VSU lead to 20-11. The final five points of the set came on kills from four different Blazers in Montagnani (2), freshman
Ava Keuntjes, Mullins, and LaRochelle. VSU closed it out 25-12 to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth and final set began with two service aces by Mullins and a kill from LaRochelle, 3-0. Kills from Oncins, Montagnani, and Callenberger powered the Blazer lead to 6-3 early. A trio of MC errors followed by another kill from Callenberger made it 10-5. Mullins put away another kill, then the Choctaws clawed back with several kills of their own to cut their deficit to 11-10.
The Blazers then ripped off a four-point run behind kills from Oncins and Montagnani. Another kill from Oncins made it 16-11. Montagnani knocked down three more kills down the stretch. Mullins and Brown added one more kill each, and VSU closed it out after another Choctaw error to win the set 25-21 and the match 3-1.
Junior
Asia Montagnani led the Valdosta State attack with 15 kills at a .303 clip. Senior
Sabrina Oncins also had a big day, posting 11 at .333 clip. Sophomore
Eva LaRochelle added seven kills, while Senior
Katie Callenberger posted six. Sophomore
Avery Mullins and Senior
Ava Young notched four each.
Graduate
Macy Brown led the match with four service aces. Mullins led the team with 39 assists and tallied three service aces. Junior
Eimy Negron Domenech paced the defense with 25 digs. Young led the team with three blocks in the win.
Looking Forward
The Blazers travel to take on another GSC opponent tomorrow afternoon in the West Alabama Tigers (6-9). Tomorrow's match is at 3 p.m. ET in Livingston, Ala. at Pruitt Hall. Check back with vstateblazers.com and the volleyball schedule page for streaming options and access to live stats.
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