VALDOSTA, Ga. – The Trojans did not drop a set through two games on Friday at the Valdosta State Fall Tournament where they swept Shorter University (25-17, 25-21, 25-21) and Georgia College (25-15, 25-13, 25-19). They move to 3-2 overall this season with the wins.
"When we look back at today's play, three things stand out," head coach Todd Hay said. "First, our kills per set is steadily climbing which is good to see. Secondly, our ace to error ratio was in the positive numbers both matches. Third, our set distribution by our setters was balanced and effective. Hopefully these trends will continue tomorrow against a very good Palm Beach Atlantic squad."
The Trojans earned their first sweep of the season over Shorter to start the tournament. Anderson held off the Hawks, surviving 11 lead changes in the first two sets to get the sweep.
The offense had their best performance of the season with a .231 hitting percentage. The defense came up with 64 digs to the Hawks' 50. The team had 4.0 blocks.
Sophomore Jacey Olsen (Aberdeen, N.C.) paced the offense with a .318 hitting percentage on 10 kills. Freshman Symone Wyatt added nine kills on a .350 hitting percentage while junior Emily Campbell (Statesville, N.C.) added seven and three blocks. Sophomore Mia Elder (Leland, N.C.) added seven kills of her own.
Freshman Jamie Juhnevicz (Taylors, S.C.) was all over the floor with 20 digs over the three sets with five assists. Freshman Mikaylah Hedlund (Fountain Inn, S.C.) added 13 digs and five kills.
Sophomore Mia Bennett (Boiling Springs, S.C.) dished out 17 assists while junior Ellie Nieporte (Boca Raton, Fla.) had 16.
The Trojan offense kept rolling against Georgia College, hitting more efficiently than earlier in the day at .339 on 55 kills. They came up with 5.0 blocks and only gave up the lead once in the entire match.
Hedlund had her best performance yet with a career-high 15 kills and just two errors for a .371 hitting percentage. She added 10 digs for her third double-double of the season.
Elder had an efficient 12 kills against the Bobcats with a .391 hitting percentage with eight digs. Wyatt added another nine kills and had zero errors in the sweep. Campbell tacked on eight kills and another three blocks.
Nieporte came up with 22 assists while Bennett added 18. On defense, Juhnevicz picked up 18 digs.
The Trojans will look to keep the momentum rolling tomorrow, Sept. 13 when they battle Palm Beach Atlantic at 2 PM.
